Setting His Own Destiny
by sheepstamper
Summary: Harry leaves Privet Drive and Members of the Order and seeks his own destiny, becoming darker but not evil, no real pairings..
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: - I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. Anything you recognise is hers; everything else is purely my imagination-running wild…..

**Setting He's Own Destiny.**

Harry had had enough, he had just returned home from Hogwarts from a terrible year. He had retuned back to Privet Drive and already his Aunt, Uncle and Dudley had already started with 'freak' this and 'freak' that.

Sirius had just fallen through the veil and Dumbledore had just informed him of the prophecy, he had to kill Voldemort or be killed.

Harry sat on his bed, after dragging his trunk up through the house, his head in his hands. Facing the wall, Harry's mind started to crack, Voldemort, Snape, 'Dursley's', Wormtail, Malfoy, the list seemed endless.

"Boy!, get down here, we have things to discuss!" Vernon shouted up the stairs.

'_Now what, what does he want now, did they get through to him at the station_', Harry's already cracked mind was now starting to shatter.

"Boy, get down here now!"

'_**CRACK**_'

Harry mind snapped. Rising from his bedroom, Harry descended from his bedroom down to the living room. Entering the room, Harry was confronted by his Aunt and Uncle.

"What was the meaning of you 'freaks' making that fuss at the station? Vernon shouted , his face purple, veins pulsing in his forehead.

"Well, are you going to tell me?" Vernon continued to shout walking towards Harry. Harry, not even bothering to look at Vernon, just raised his wand.

"_Petrificus Totalus_" Vernon fell to the floor. Aunt Petunia screamed, rising from the chair, "_Petrificus Totalus", _Harry cast the spell on his aunt, she fell back on to the chair, her eyes darting wildly.

Harry looked at both his aunt and uncle, his eyes had gone from the emerald green to a green/black, "You have treated me like a slave for the last time, you have berated me and made me suffer more than you could ever know. I will no longer put up with it." He snarled at the pair of them, as they lay on the floor, the only sign from them was the movement of their eyes and this was rapid and darted from each other to him.

Harry raised his wand and cast his spells at the both of them, "_change ut equus_", "_change ut bovis_". Both his aunt and uncle turned in a horse and a bull respectively. "I will leave you to your fates, lets see what the RSPCA have to say about find animals in your home", pausing Harry felt himself smirk, "actually, let's see what the neighbours have to say about you keeping animals in your house".

Laughing, Harry left the room and returned to his bedroom, he had decided what he had to do, he would no longer depend on people for his protection, he would not be manipulated into doing other peoples bidding and he would certainly stand on his own two feet . People he had trusted had manipulated him enough. People who thought they cared for him, enough was enough, today that would end.

Looking out of his window he saw an tawny owl flying towards his window, casting a spell at the bird it dropped like a stone in water. '_let's see what the ministry of magic has to say about that', _he thought. '_if the ministry couldn't deliver his misuse of magic letter to him h, then couldn't get into trouble.'_

Harry gathered up his belongings and left Privet Drive, walking to the end of the road before raising his wand and summoning the Knight Bus.

'_First things first_,' he thought, '_I_ _need to get the tracking spells off my wand, then to Gringotts to get some money and then to disappear for a while.'_

Dumbledore sat in his office when all of his alarms went off, something was happening at Privet Drive. Quickly leaving his office and flooing to Mrs. Figg's house, Dumbledore exited the floo in a state of near panic. '_What was going on with Harry?_'

Upon arriving at the Dursley's he noticed that both the police and the RSPCA were in attendance, not wanting to draw attention to himself he waited, quietly observing what was happening, he could not sense any deatheater activity in the area so he knew that it wasn't Voldemort, but what had gone on?. Turning his robes into an everyday business suit he walked the remaining few yards towards the house. He could overhear various conversations, centering around the fact that there was a horse and a bull being subdued by a local vet inside the house, the RSPCA were in attendance because of the state of the animals, the police because of the animals inside the house.

Dumbledore had to wait until the ministry obliviator's had shown up because of the number of people surrounding the house, wanting to know what was going on. Once everything had clamed down and Petunia and Vernon were returned to their natural state, of looking like a horse and a bull rather than being a horse and a bull. Dumbledore had deduced that Harry may have had a breakdown and left of his own accord.

Returning to his office he quickly call a meeting of the order. Rather than using Grimmauld Place, member's of the order flooed into Hogwarts.

"I have some rather disturbing news, it appears that Harry has left the safety of his relative's house and is out on his own. It is imperative that we locate him at all costs and return him to his relatives where the blood protection is at it strongest." Dumbledore informed the order members.

There was an eerie silence followed by a outburst of in human proportions, from Molly Weasley stating that the '_poor boy should have stayed with them at the Burrow_', to Professor Snape insinuating that '_Potter was an attention seeking brat who was just looking for more attention.'_

Dumbledore quickly silenced them all with orders to locate Harry and to take various know locations and begin the search.

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_Elsewhere at the same time as the order was meeting _

Harry had just left the Knight Bus and entered the Leaky Caldron, passing through quickly he tapped the bricks, allowing him entry into Diagon Alley. Making his way over to Gringotts, Harry was oblivious to the stares that he was receiving, the murmuring of the crowd.

Once he was inside Gringotts, Harry made his way to a short line and waited his turn to be seen

"Is it possible to see Griphook?" Harry enquired once he was at the window.

The goblin, being a short tempered individual, looked at Harry, "Who is wanting him and why should he see you?"

Harry already fed up at being treated like a forth class citizen spoke in a very quite voice, the meaning not lost on the goblin. "I will speak with Griphook now and if you wish to keep your job and also your head you will get him here now within the next ten seconds." Harry continued, his voice now a whisper "You will tell him that Harry Potter is here to see him and if I do not find any satisfaction I will remove my account to a muggle bank, I'm sure the loss of such a prestige account as the Potters will leave other clients wanting to remove their money also. Do I make myself clear?"

The goblin, not easily frightened left his seat and disappeared through a doorway behind the counters, within less time than it took to snap your fingers Griphook had emerged from the doorway.

"Mr. Potter, please come through" Griphook said to Harry, as he was lead behind the banks counters "What can I do for you today?"

Entering a small office Harry sat down in a comfortable chair and looked over at the goblin. Although not usually taller than 4ft 6 inches, goblins had a feral look and their magic was unique.

"I wish to know that state of my account and once I know this I will require a few additional services, either provided by yourselves or someone that you trust" was all Harry would say.

Griphook looked at a ledger on his desk and proceeded to tap it with if finger.

"Mr. Potter, it appears that you are one of our largest clients and with the recent death of Mr. Black it appears that your holdings have grown. Mr. Potter your net worth is currently 480 million galleons with various properties around the country"

Harry sat back, stunned was an understatement, if he calculated this right if every galleon was the equivalent to four pounds, this meant that he had nearly two billion pounds.

"Griphook, what do you mean Mr. Blacks holdings?"

Griphook looked at Harry in disbelief "Mr. Potter I thought that you would have known that upon the death of Mr. Black you have been granted his entire estate including money, investments and properties. I also understand that you have been granted emancipation. You Mr. Potter are considered an adult in the wizarding community with all of the rights and responsibilities granted to a full wizard"

Harry could not have been more stunned, if his own mother and father walked into the bank and given him a hug, it would have been less of a shock.

"Thank you Griphook for informing me of this", however, Harry was interrupted by Griphook, "Mr. Potter, we at Gringotts have been sending you monthly statements concerning your wealth and what we should do with your investments since you were eleven, your guardian, Albus Dumbledore, has seen to your investments for the last five years"

Harry could not believe his ears, what was Dumbledore doing with his money, why didn't he know that Dumbledore was his guardian and if so why did he have to return to the Dursley's year after year?

Harry already fragile mind, snapped from betrayal by others, only succumbed to further shatter into already smaller pieces. Harry's aura flared in the office, making Griphook back away in haste, the instruments within the ministry of magic went off the chart, wizards looking for the disturbance noting that it was coming from Diagon Alley.

Claming down, Harry surveyed the office and Griphook, "Remove Dumbledore from all of my accounts" he snarled.

While Griphook had left the office undertaking to remove Dumbledore from Harry's accounts, Harry thought about his next moves. He didn't want to attract a lot of attention and he needed to get away and think of what his next moves would be. He had only thought to get away from the wizarding world and have time to think about what he wanted to do. He didn't want to be hounded and plagued by the Dursleys and have the order keeping a watch over every little thing that he did.

Griphook entered the office and reviewed Harry, he appeared to be thinking, getting Harry's attention, "Albus Dumbledore has been removed from all of your accounts and his key has been revoked" Griphook stated "was there some other matter that you wished to discuss?"

Harry waited, letting Griphook finish "I need to have the tracking charms removed from this wand, also I need to know what properties that I own, I wish to relocate to one of them, I do not want to be found this summer." Harry considered his next words carefully. "Can you achieve this or can you recommend someone who can do this without mentioning that I have been here?"

"Mr. Potter, we can remove the tracking charms from your wand, for a small fee. Also you have a number of properties that can be used, two under the Fidelius Charm" Griphook sat down at his desk and reviewed the ledger in front of him "One of the properties is Grimmauld Place, in London and the other is Black Cottage, in the Lake District"

Harry thought about the options, "Griphook, can you please remove the charms from my wand and see about transferring the secret keeper for the property at Black Cottage to myself" Harry asked.

Griphook placed a call to another goblin and within minutes the charms were removed from his wand and Black Cottage was now under the control of Harry.

Harry left the bank, with a bag full of galleons and was making his way to Flourish and Blott's to collect a few books when the sound of apparition sounded in the alley. Deatheaters appear in the center of Diagon Alley and were randomly cast spells everywhere. Indiscriminately at everybody, old and young alike.

Harry darted behind the pillars of Gringotts and cast '_Evanesco_' at the deatheaters legs, these were cut from beneath them and six of them fell to the floor, Harry quickly banished the legs from Diagon Alley, ensuring that those deatheaters wouldn't have the chance to use them in the near future.

Ducking behind the pillars, Harry quickly decided that this was not the brightest thing that he had done all day, coming to Diagon Alley to loose his life in a fight was not top of his list at the moment.

The remaining deatheaters noticing that they were down half of their contingent looked for the source of the attack, once their attention was diverted other wizards joined in attacking the remaining deatheaters and soon were joined by the ministry aurors.

Harry noticing that the deatheaters were apparating away and leaving their colleagues, Harry quickly made his way to the Leakey Cauldron, leaving via the muggle entrance, he summoned the Knight Bus and instructed Stan Shunpike to take him to the Lake District. He thought it better to drop him off near Black Cottage rather than take him directly to it, the order would probably trace him there, even with the Fidelius Charm on it.

_Back at Hogwarts – Meeting of the Order_

Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt entered through the floo into the Headmaster's office.

"Sorry we're late, there was an attack on Diagon Alley" stated Kingsley in a quite deep voice.

"please explain what happened" Professor Dumbledore asked, the noise of the order members lowering immediately

"It appears that about twelve deatheaters apparated into Diagon Alley, Indiscriminately killing anybody they could see" answered Tonks, taking a seat at the front of the meeting.

"How many were killed" asked someone from the back of the room.

"That's the funny thing" a smiling Kingsley answered, "There were no deaths and the only injured were six deatheaters, who have now been taken under guard to St.Mungo's, they lost their legs when someone sliced them off and then banished them"

Cry's of disbelief echoed around the room.

"Tonks, Kingsley, could you please explain this in a little more detail" requested Dumbledore, taking a lemon drop from the tray in front of him.

"Well, the rumour is that Harry Potter cut the legs out from the deatheaters, banishing them away and then left, leaving via the Leakey Cauldron, he then disappeared into muggle London" Tonks said, "it can't be Harry as he's at the Dursley's?"

"That Nymphadora, is what we are meeting about. Harry has left the protection of his relatives and is missing" Dumbledore paused "It appears that you have now found out where Harry was, I suggest we start to look for Harry around Diagon Alley" Dumbledore stated looking at the people within his office.

_Black Cottage – The Lake District._

Harry got off the Knight Bus and made his way down a leafy lane, leading to Black Cottage. His thoughts rapidly turning over the events of the last day.

As Harry neared his destination, he pulled out the piece of paper and read the address again '_Harry lives at Black Cottage'_, looking up his could see the outline of a small building against the skyline. A small chimney rising above the thatched rooftop. As Harry neared the cottage, it was a picture postcard of everything that a cottage should be, square framed windows, a large oak wooden door in the middle of the house, a narrow pathway leading from the gate to the entrance. A typical cottage, in every sense of the word.

Inside, the cottage consisted of a living room, a kitchen, a sitting room, including a small collection of books, a bathroom and two bedrooms. '_Why did Sirius own this?_', was the first thought that crossed Harry mind, however after a few moments of consideration, did it really matter why the Black family owned this cottage, it suited Harry's purpose.

Making himself at home Harry considered his next moves. Food was a priority and then learning. Harry knew how to cook, so looking after himself should not prove to big a problem, learning would probably present him with greater difficulties.

Harry settled into a chair and closing his eyes, thought about Hedwig, '_hopefully she will find_ _me_' was Harry lasts thoughts before going to sleep.

Reviews are welcome, feel free to let me know how I'm doing. It won't stop the story but it will let me know if I am writing correctly, if the English is okay and on the right track…….


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: - I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. Anything you recognise is hers; everything else is purely my imagination-running wild…..

**Setting He's Own Destiny.**

Harry was a legal adult, in the eyes of wizard kind. He had been emancipated and had been granted full wizarding rights to '_do_' magic outside of Hogwarts. As Harry soon discovered this was not the means to everything that he had wished for. He couldn't conjure food out of thin air, he couldn't just wonder down to the local shops to pick up the groceries, in case he was seen by members of the order, the public or even deatheaters. Life, at the moment, was not going Harry's way.

Harry had stayed in the cottage for a few days before Hedwig had shown up at the edge of the Fidelius Charm, hooting incessantly.

"Hedwig, where have you been?" Harry said after materializing out of thin air, as he crossed the boundary of the charm

Hedwig, although a very nice and pleasant, snowy white owl, was not impressed with her master, landing on Harry's shoulder, which she gripped hard enough to draw blood she nipped his ear, again enough to make it bleed.

"Oww! Hedwig… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to leave you with no way to find me!" Harry yelped, frantically waving his arms in the air around this head and shoulders.

Hedwig only seemed more frustrated and wanted to bite Harry some more.

"I'm sorry girl!...Stop it!...Oww…..now that hurts!" Harry screamed as he tried to duck her next attack.

Finally coming to a rest, Harry stopped running around and settled against the gate leading to the cottage. "Hedwig….please listen" Harry pleaded.

Hedwig settled on the gate next to Harry and stared at him, with unblinking yellow eyes.

Harry knew that look, he had been subjected to that look before, it was as if she was saying '_you run off, leave me behind with those animals and expect everything to be alright – well think again mister_'

"Hedwig, I had to get away, they wouldn't let me be me, they watched everything that I did and the Dursleys, well they were worse than usual, I'm not putting up with it any longer" Harry looked at his owl, she seemed to have clamed down and was edging closer to him, inching towards him on the gate.

"Hedwig, please forgive me….I know it wasn't right to leave you behind but I knew that you would find me……."taking a risk Harry held out his arm for her.

Hedwig looked at her master and inched forward, he seemed apologetic and he held out his arm for her to jump on to. Finally, relenting Hedwig jumped on Harry's shoulder and nipped him on the ear.

"Oww!...okay so am I forgiven…….Do you want to see where we will be living for the next few months girl?" stoking her head as he walked towards to the door of the cottage.

Harry entered the cottage, with Hedwig on his shoulder, showing her the rooms, which there weren't a lot of and the garden.

"Well, this is it, I'm sorry that I haven't got any owl treats for you and food is a bit scarce as I haven't managed to get to the shops yet." Harry walked around the house whilst talking to his owl.

"I think that I remember that Ron said that there is an owl delivery service that can be arranged from Diagon Alley, I'll have to right a note and let you take it to the shops, do you think that you are ready for another flight yet?

Hedwig hooted, in a positive way, '_is there a negative hoot?_' Harry thought.

Harry sat down and wrote a short note for Hedwig to deliver to the shops, '_right I can cook, but nothing to fancy, so I think a little of everything'_ Harry thought while he was writing out his letter/list.

Harry wrote out a small shopping list and tied it to Hedwig's leg, along with some galleons.

"I've asked the shop keeper to shrink down the food and place it in the pouch attached to your leg, girl" Harry said while tying the letter to her leg. "I've also asked to see if they can send me a catalogue to see what else I can get by owl-order"

Harry finished tying the letter and money to the Hedwig's leg and saw her fly out of the window, towards London.

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_Back at Hogwarts_

"What do you mean you can't find him?" wailed a distraught Molly Weasley, "Where can he have got to Albus?"

"Molly, I assure you that we are doing everything possible to locate Harry and return him to safety" he paused in his speech as the floo flared into life and spat out Bill Weasley

"Ahh, William, what news do you have from Gringotts?" Albus asked as soon as he saw Bill had finished brushing himself off.

William Weasley sat down in a nearby chair and quickly glanced at the people in the office, "It seems that Harry met with one of the goblins and made quite an impression" Bill stated.

"It appears that Harry turned up and indicated that if he was not heard within a given amount of time that he would remove his accounts to somewhere else, of course the goblins acted and Harry was seen in minutes." He paused and considered his next words "I also understand that he was also emancipated and has inherited Sirius Blacks money, properties and investments, I understand that to be quite a substantial sum"

There was silence within the room as this news was digested, Albus Dumbledore sat down, at his desk.

"Well, it appears that Harry may have been planning this for some time" Dumbledore said

"Do you know where he went from Gringotts?"

"No, but I heard from Griphook, one of the goblins at the bank, that Harry has two houses under the Fidelius charm, although he couldn't remember where they are – so Harry could be at one of them I suppose?" Bill stated.

The members of the Order of the Phoenix, hearing this just sat and digested this news.

"He could be anywhere," moaned Mrs Weasley, "Alone and no one to care for him", her mothering instincts running at an all time high.

"Molly, can you please let me know if Ron, Ginny or Hermione hear from him… I understand that Hermione will be staying with you during the summer break?" Dumbledore was trying to bring the meeting back to order.

"Of course Albus, of course" Mrs Weasley replied.

"Albus, you know that the aurors will want to talk to Mr. Potter about the attack in Diagon Alley, even though those who lost their legs were deatheaters we will still need to talk to him" Amelia Bones stated.

"Yes, of course Amelia, but we need to find him first," Dumbledore continued, "I believe that Harry will have to surface soon and when he does we can bring him back and under the protection of the order"

With conversation continuing around trying to find Harry Potter, the meeting continued into the evening, finally all members left for their respective homes.

"Severus, do you know if Voldemort is aware that Harry is missing?" Dumbledore asked

"No, Albus, the Dark Lord is not aware that he is missing, only that he attacked his deatheaters, he was most aggrieved that he lost so many supporters in one attack and displayed his anger at the last meeting" Snape answered.

"It will only be a short time before he will be aware that Harry is missing, he can not find out until Harry is back where it is safe"

_Back at Black Cottage – The Lake District._

Harry pondered his next steps while Hedwig was winging her way to Diagon Alley, sitting in the sitting room Harry was thinking.

'_I need to train, but train in what? Transfiguration, Charms, Astronomy? – why is Mars always 'bloody' bright? why can't Neptune or Saturn be bright for a change?? Keep on track Harry! Training, yes training._

_I'm a sixteen year old wizard with a standard education who knows the bare minimum in order to pass a few OWLS, how am I going to fight Voldemort?_

Harry got up and started to pace around the small room

'_As soon as Hedwig returns I can see what I can order through owl-order, Ha!... owl-order I just got it! Mail-order, owl-order. Keep on track - Dammit Harry!_

_I'm a wizard of standard power who hasn't reached his magical maturity – what ever that is? and I'm expected to fight one of the most powerful Dark Dorks in the last few hundred years… Right I need food!_

Harry finished his pacing and entered the kitchen, looking around he could only see a few tins in the cupboards, '_why didn't they put self stocking cupboards in this place?'_ he thought to himself.

Harry continued in this vein until Hedwig turned up with a small pouch attached to her leg.

"Hedwig, I glad to see you back safe" Harry said as she flew through the sitting room window

"Right, let's get some food for you and me" and with that Harry made a small dinner for himself and Hedwig.

Looking through the catalogue he could see that Flourish and Blott's, wasn't the only book seller in the magical world, it was the only one the could afford the rents on Diagon Alley. With Hedwig perched in the corner of the room sleeping after her long fight from London, Harry started to make out a list of books that he could purchase and study over the coming months.

Harry decided that he would order books on charms, transfiguration, a basic guide to occlumency, a beginners guide to Legilimency, healing and defence against the dark arts. Harry continued to look through the book and noticed that they had a complete section on dark arts and their uses, pausing to make sure that he was reading it right, Harry ordered a few dark arts books '_why learn defence against the dark arts if you can't use them in the first place_' Harry thought to himself.

Harry considered looking for a few books on potions but couldn't find the will power to continue with the subject.

'W_hy make your own potions when you can buy them from any apothecary… it's not as if anyone will give me time to make a healing potion in the middle of a battle – _

'_Oh please excuse me, I've injured my leg, I just need to make a blood clotting potion and wait for a few minutes for it to take effect, I will be back to battle you in about half an hour – oh where is my caldron, I must have misplaced it somewhere' – _

_Yeah right_' Harry thought.

Potions would not make the list and that was that, he hated the teacher, if Snape could be called a teacher, let alone a professor, and there was no way he was going to subject himself to more back biting, hate swilling, Voldemort loving, greasy bat like professors.

'_Yep! Apothecary's are for me.' Thought Harry._

Harry finished his meal and completed his list of books that he wanted and settled down in the sitting room to read the Daily Prophet, more commonly know as the news paper that makes-up-stories-about-people,

_**Harry Potter in Battle of Diagon Alley**_

_In a daring risk of life and limb Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived, battled to save wizards and witches from a fatal attack. A dozen deatheater had appeared in the Alley and were throwing curses everywhere when Harry Potter jumped out of Gringotts bank and started to attack them,_

_Harry Potter successfully managed to stop six deatheaters by removing their legs and banishing them away before aurors arrived on the scene and the remaining deatheater apparated away._

_One witness to these events had this to say "Harry Potter strolled out of the bank and saw that we were in trouble and just launched himself into the battle, throwing curses at the deatheaters – He was simply fantastic". Another witness stated "He ran out of the bank and struck them down from behind, not the sort of thing I would expect from someone lie Harry Potter" the author of these comments wished to remain anonymous,_

_It is understood that the DMLE want to question Harry Potter is connection with this attack – Is he a hero or criminal you have you say._

_Contact Rita Skeeter at The Daily Prophet._

_Rita.Skeeterdailyprophet.magic.uk_

Harry threw the paper away in disgust, even he could see that the rubbish that was printed was beyond what was normal for them.

"Why can't they get it right for a change Hedwig?" Harry said from his chair, Hedwig only shuffled her feathers still sleeping "You're no help"

Harry settled down for the night, thinking about the training that he would have to undertake over the coming months.

The next morning Harry woke to Hedwig sitting on his chest.

"Time for me to get up, eh?" Harry looked at the owl, Hedwig just blinked her eyes at him.

"Right I have a list of books that I need, can you take this to 'Paper and Parchment Books' in Gauche Alley, I think it is just off Diagon Alley. Hedwig looked at Harry with distain '_don't tell me how to find a place_' seemed to be the look that she conveyed to Harry. Rushing on, "While you're gone I will be writing to Ron and Hermione, just to let them know that I am okay, I'm sure that they will be worried, maybe Ginny as well and maybe Luna and Neville" finished Harry '_why not write to the whole school_' passed through Harry's mind while he was telling Hedwig this.

Hedwig held out her leg for the message and promptly left.

Harry turned round and sat at the table, parchment laid flat on the table. ' _what to say'_

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_Dear Ron,_

_You have probably heard that I have left my relatives and have disappeared, well most of this is true and I have left my relative but as you can clearly see I have not totally disappeared – just going to be hard to find this summer._

_Please explain to your mum that I won't be able to come over this summer as I have things that I must do._

_Will see you on the Hogwarts Express on September 1__st_

_Harry._

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Dear Hermione,

I hope that you are well and have recovered from your injuries at the Department of Mysteries, I am sorry that you got hurt.

You have probably heard, from Ron, that I have left my relatives and that I turned them into a horse and a bull, they act like these animals so I thought that I would let them see what living like them would do for them.

I know that you will be upset that it appears that I have run away. I can only say that I have run away, I have only taken up another residence that no one can find. Suffice to say that I will not neglect my studies and will be doing various bits of research over the summer months.

I am afraid that you will not be able to write back as I am staying where mail-owls will not be able to find me.

I will see you on the Hogwarts Express on September 1st.

Love

Harry

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Harry didn't write to Ginny, Luna or Neville, knowing that they would be informed of his whereabouts, or lack of whereabouts, by Ron and Hermione. He wanted time to think and a bit of solitude in which to think, without having to worry about friends.

Finally sitting in his chair he waited for Hedwig to return.

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_Order of the Phoenix – Hogwarts._

"Albus" Mrs Weasley said as she exited the floo "Ron and Hermione have received a letter from Harry!"

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_Let me know what you think…………_

_Sheeps_


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: - I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. Anything you recognise is hers; everything else is purely my imagination-running wild…..

**Setting He's Own Destiny.**

Harry settled down at the kitchen table, Hedwig had returned and had dropped off all the books that Harry had ordered. He'd laid them out on the table and was contemplating where to start, would he start with transfiguration, charms, conjuring, DADA or Dark Arts?

Being a sixteen year old Harry really didn't want to start studying, as he'd only just found freedom. Freedom from the Dursley's, freedom from Voldemort and his minions, freedom from The Order, life was looking too good to want to pick up a book and start studying. He didn't have Hermione to nag him to do work, he didn't have Ron to distract him, Hell! he didn't even have a girlfriend to distract him from working.

Hedwig flew from the back of the chair opposite him and landed on his shoulder, Harry turned and looked at her "Well girl? Where should I start?"

Hedwig looked at her master, then nipped him hard on his earlobe

"Oww! Not again Hedwig. What did I do this time?" Harry huffed, rubbing his ear slightly, trying to bring the pain down to an acceptable level where it only hurt and wasn't throbbing.

"I know, I know…. I get all of these books and now I don't want to do anything" Harry paused looking at his owl, "I know what I have to do, it's just difficult to get started….okay" he said, lying his hand on the table.

Hedwig, not really bothered by Harry whining decided to nip him again on his already red earlobe. "Ouch! OKAY! I'm going, I'm going", Harry stood up and moved into the sitting room, taking a few of the books with him.

Harry sat down in the sitting room with a few of the dark arts books and started to read, he was fascinated by the easy way that the dark arts could be used and what was considered dark arts. If his was going to be fighting dark arts, for what could be considered the remainder of his life, however long or short that would be, then he should know what to expect and how to counter them. What good was defence against the dark arts if you couldn't get to practice casting them in the first place.

Early on during his reading, Harry soon discovered that the dark arts weren't really dark at all, sure there were something's in there that really shouldn't be available to anybody. Why would you want to turn anyone inside out, what was the point of burning your eye's out, '_who made these spells and what purpose did they have in mind when trying them out'_.

Harry soon discovered, whilst reading, that nearly all of the spells that were considered dark or borderline dark, was it because of the complexity of the spells and relied on the power of the caster to perform them. Therefore, the Ministry wanted them restricted and not available to the general wizarding population. If the ministry couldn't perform them then they were banned and considered dark, thus leading to extended stays in Azkaban.

Harry continued to read the book and slowly it dawned on him, it was the intent of the caster that should be considered dark and not the spell. Sure if you cast '_Wingardium Leviosa_' on someone and then dropped them off a cliff, then should that be considered dark or should the caster be considered dark – it was all down to the intent of the caster and their use of the spell. There should be no use for the terms like '_light_' and '_dark_' magic, they were just spells.

Once Harry started to understand the concept that spells themselves were neither light or dark, Harry started to enjoy reading the dark arts book, even if the title was incorrect and with trepidation started to practice them.

This settled into a routine for Harry, getting up, shower, breakfast, read books and practice

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_Order of the Phoenix – Hogwarts._

Mrs. Weasley had just exited the floo and attracted the attention of all of the members of the Order of the Phoenix, by shouting that Ron and Hermione had received letters from Harry

Once calm had descended on the order, brought about by Albus Dumbledore sending sparks from his wand into the air, "Can you tell us what they say Molly?" Dumbledore questioned.

The order members managed to take their seats and arrange themselves, as if waiting for a children's story.

"Well, he says that he is sorry for not being able to come to the Burrow this summer and that he will not be neglecting his studies" she paused and looked about the room. "He also says that we will not be able to contact him and that he will be back at Hogwarts on the 1st of September, arriving by the Hogwarts Express"

"Is that all he says Molly?" Albus Dumbledore held out his hands to review the letters, after reading them he looked up "It appears that Molly is correct. He apologises for not being able to go the Burrow this summer but there is no apology for turning his relatives into animals, nor for the amount of work that it took to clean up that mess, nor for the attack on the deatheaters"

"Typical Potter, always wanting someone else to clean up after him" came the snippy comment from Snape.

Professor Dumbledore ignored his potions professor and continued, "We must find him before Voldemort does, Does anyone know where he could be?" He looked around the room "Remus?"

Remus Lupin looked up, his eyes tired, "No, Harry hasn't been in contact with me at all. I can't think where he could be Albus"

"Bill, have the goblins said anything more about Harry, we know that he went to them before he disappeared?"

Bill Weasley sat near the back of the room "No professor, the goblins refuse to talk about any of their clients and keep any information related to them to themselves".

Albus Dumbledore stood up and walked around to the front of his desk, he paused as he sat of the front of his desk facing the assembled members of the order.

"I received a note from Gringotts informing me that I have been removed from the Potter Vaults and that Harry has inherited everything from Sirius's will" he paused whilst the members within the room listened.

"I know that William informed us of these events some time ago, but the goblins have now confirmed it. I also took the liberty of checking the records at the Ministry and Harry has been emancipated, the records clearly indicate this" Dumbledore seemed to age to his considerable 160 years, "It does appear that Harry has found something's out that maybe he doesn't fully understand"

"What do you mean by that?" screeched Mrs. Weasley, she was already frantic about not knowing where Harry was, now what had he found out?

"It would appear that Harry may not have known about his parents vaults, or the fact that I have been responsible for them since his parents deaths" Dumbledore moved back round to his seat, the desk between him and the order members, "I thought it may be best for Harry not to know about the considerable wealth that he has"

"He has money Albus?" questioned Remus, "But he walks around in clothes only fit for burning, why didn't you inform him of this?"

"Remus, I thought it would be best if he concentrated on being a child, I appear to have been mistaken"

'_Oh Merlin, he must think that we have all known about his wealth, he must despise us all for it_' thought Remus.

"I must admit, that my keeping secrets from Harry may have upset him a little, I didn't think that it would drive him away from us" Dumbledore continued.

The Order of the Phoenix members started to talk about the latest news that had just occurred.

"Please, please" Dumbledore said trying to silence the crowd, "We must find Harry and bring him back to where he can be protected, I suggest you all continue to look for him" he paused in his speech "however we must remember that Harry is now classed as an adult and therefore can do magic away from Hogwarts"

Soon after this last speech the order members left via floo, all going to their separate destinations.

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_Black Cottage – The Lake District._

Harry had been practicing various spells, reading his books and having no interruptions, apart from Hedwig trying to get him to do more, and had gained an insight to his ability to do spells. He had read up on his previous school notes first through to fifth year and found that he could perform moderately well in all of his chosen subjects.

Harry had concentrated on all of the spells in his school years and could perform them all with little to no problem, however when trying to do the advanced spells, NEWT level or above he seemed to hit a physical block, it seemed that his body wouldn't allow him to progress any further. The more he tried the more frustrated he became, only when he seemed to lose his temper did anything go moderately right.

Harry paused in his studies to and went to the kitchen to make some diner and to get Hedwig something to eat.

"You do know that you could fly and get yourself a nice fat mouse," Harry said, looking at Hedwig, "there are plenty of fields around here"

Hedwig just looked at him, her bright yellow eyes blinking at him, from the chair next to the table. Harry continued to look at her "Well?" he finally asked.

Hedwig sniffed, '_can owls sniff_' thought Harry, as Hedwig flew out of the kitchen window and over to the nearby fields.

Harry quickly made his sandwich and sat down in the sitting room, while eating his sandwich of ham and cheese, he read his dark arts book, '_Rituals and Their Powers_'. Harry read various rituals where you had to make sacrifices both human and animal, which would bring greater powers to the individuals, 'Blood rituals' where the person gained insight into various abilities, including greater speed, strength, sight, hearing, visions, there seemed to be an endless parade of different things that could be performed.

'_Do I want to go through any of these?_' thought Harry '_what would the benefits be?_', Harry tried to think who said '_is the benefit greater than the risk'._

Finishing off his sandwich and standing up Harry walked to the kitchen window, could he see Hedwig flying, looking for her fat mouse?

'_Well, there does seem to be some benefit in doing some of these rituals, it would give me an edge over Voldemort'_ Harry paused, '_who am I kidding, Voldemort has probably carried out all of these rituals, including child sacrifice, although it would make the odds a little better in my favour'_

Harry walked back into the sitting room and sat back down, picking up his book he continued to scan through it looking for exactly what rituals he could perform without having to '_kill a goat'_ or '_strangle a child'_ in order to make himself more powerful.

One caught his eye, it was one where the mind and the body could function as one, no delay in reactions, no second guessing, more importantly one that did not demand the '_killing of anything'_ just a little blood on his part.

Harry read what had to be done for this ritual. It had to be performed at the apex of the full moon, within a heptagon, in the open air, candles at each of the seven corners, with runic symbols placed inside each of the seven points, the caster had to be facing North. This didn't seem so bad, the full moon was only four days away, if Harry's calculations were correct.

Hedwig flew back into the cottage, dinner having already been eaten. Harry proceeded to inform her of what he was going to do, she didn't look to impressed.

"Hedwig, I know that I can do this, it isn't too bad and the benefits far out way the risks." He looked at her "It's much better than having to sacrifice anything", she seemed to shudder as she flew up to the dresser to rest after her meal.

The night of the full moon was a few hours away and Harry was preparing the ground for the ritual, the heptagon had been drawn and the runic symbols placed around the seven-sided shape. Harry had been careful to get the symbols correct, he didn't want to make a mistake with this, his _first_ ritual.

Hedwig, looked on from a nearby tree, small '_hoots_' emanating from her beak as she watched her master getting ready for the ritual.

Harry placed a small dagger on the ground inside the heptagon and waited for the moon to appear at its zenith. He had read everything about the ritual he was about to perform, although not knowing the full outcome, he was filled with a small amount of dread.

As the time was nearing, Harry entered the heptagon and sat in the middle facing North, his body glistening in the cooling midnight air, the small dagger by his side. Harry had to be naked for this and was thankful that no one was around to see him perform this, although being naked would probably have been the easiest part of the ritual.

Harry slowly looked at the sky, watching the moon, he heard Hedwig '_hoot_' from the nearby tree and slowly raised the dagger to his chest. Drawing a small triangle above his heart with a line dropping downwards Harry intoned the words of the ritual

"cruor of meus somes , cruor of meus mens enscroll is ritus facio unus".

Harry could feel a slight wind whip around his body, small tingles all over his body, drawing the dagger over the palm of his hand Harry, he then placed his cut hand upon the symbol, already drawn on his chest,

"somes quod mens ut unus" '_Body and mind as one'_

The symbol drawn into his chest flared, Harry tensed as pain surrounded his body and Harry slumped to the ground. Hedwig flew and landed on the ground next to her master.

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_The Burrow._

"I wonder what Harry is doing now?" Ron asked to everyone gathered at the Burrow.

Ron, Hermione and Ginny had been at the Burrow for the past few week, Hermione's parents had taken the opportunity to go a dental conference in Spain and would be away for the last few weeks of the summer. It had been decided that Hermione could stay with the Weasley's until they got back.

"Oh Ron!, it's the full moon tonight and he is probably worried about Professor Lupin" Hermione replied, "I just wish I knew where he was… he could be doing anything"

"Well, according to mum, we were the only one's that he wrote to when he left his relatives," stated Ginny "I knew that they were awful to him, but I don't think that they deserved to be turned into animals"

"What do you mean? they probably deserved it" snarled Ron.

Between the three of them they knew all about Harry's relatives, but only what Harry had told them, they didn't know how badly he had been treated, starved, abused, picked on and humiliated, they didn't know that according to his relatives that Harry attended a criminal boys school.

"Well he could be doing anything?" Hermione stated once more, "Knowing Harry he won't be doing his homework or studying, even though he said he would"

"Would you Hermione?" asked Ron, "Actually don't answer that, you probably would" smiling Ron left the room and entered the kitchen before Hermione could berate him for being uncaring.

"What do you think that he's doing Hermione?" Ginny asked in a quite voice, she was worried for Harry even though he hadn't written to her.

"I just don't know" replied Hermione, "He's just lost Sirius, then he runs away, he could be doing anything, He could have fallen in with the wrong crowd"

"What do you mean?"

"He could be doing anything, to just disappear and not be found, he could have even been captured by Voldemort"

"I don't think that Voldemort would have kept that a secret, I think that if that had happened it would be all over the papers by now" Ginny responded. "and Snape would have taken a huge amount of delight in informing everyone"

"Are you two coming?, Dinners nearly ready" shouted Ron from the kitchen. The two girls, sighed looking at each other and left for the kitchen.

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_Black Cottage – The Lake District._

Harry felt like his was floating, the pain in his chest had stopped and had become a dull throbbing pain instead of someone prodding and poking him with red hot skewers. He could feel his entire body and sensed everything around him from the beetle crawling in the grass to the side of him to Hedwig sitting on his shoulder with her head in the crook of his neck. He could feel his blood flowing through his heart and the feeling of the wind on his body and face, he felt alive and in touch with every living thing.

Harry could see, '_in his minds eye_' his magic flowing around his body, touching everything around him, his mind capturing and memorising every feeling, taste, sound, smell and noise. As he carefully looked inside himself, he saw blocks against his mental pathways. '_What the hell are those?_' he thought to himself, they looked like dams placed in the way of his magic, he couldn't see past them, he couldn't go around, up, down or through them '_What the hell are they?_'

Harry body started to shiver in the cold of the morning air. He rose from his slumped position, dislodging Hedwig as he lifted his body off the ground. "Sorry girl" he mumbled as he made his way slowly back into the cottage.

Sitting down, after wrapping a blanket around himself, he quickly grabbed a drink from the cool cabinet, he didn't have a fridge at the cottage, placing the cool bottle against his forehead he felt the cooling effect the bottle had.

"Well, that didn't go too badly" Harry stuttered, "Did it girl?"

Hedwig just looked at him reproachfully, as if to say '_it was not something you should have tried in the first place'_

"I think that I need to have a sleep" and with that Harry stumbled his way up to his bedroom.

The next day Harry was looking at his books on Occlumency, trying to discover what the '_blocks_' that he had found were. His only answer was from an obscure paragraph in one of the books that mentioned '_blocks of the mind'_

The passage read.

_Mental blocks can be place on the mind of a young child to prevent them from performing accidental magic and injuring themselves or others around them. They should be removed once the child has reached an age where they can distinguish the difference between accidental magic and knowingly performed magic, i.e. with a wand._

_The blocks should always be removed once the child has reached the age of twelve, as a minimum, removal of the blocks can cause some pain as the block removal causes the excess magic that was blocked to become active. _

_By removing the blocks the full potential of the witch or wizard can be reached._

Harry sat back in his chair, '_why would I have blocks placed on me and why weren't they removed?_'

Harry only thought that Dumbledore could have placed these on him before delivering him to the Dursley's. The Ministry would have picked up any accidental magic performed and that could have lead to Voldemort finding out where Harry lived.

The more Harry thought about it the more he became annoyed,

'Why had Dumbledore not removed the blocks when he entered Hogwarts, he had been attending Hogwarts for the past five years, he had performed his first '_Patronus_' spell at the age of thirteen.

To say that Harry was livid would be an understatement, if air could spontaneously combust then it would have, flowing lava would have diverted itself back into the mouth of volcano's and 'Nundu's' would have fled at the sight of the young man that now sat in a small wooden chair in a cottage in the Lake District.

Grabbing hold of his magic and looking through his own mind, Harry entered his mind and looked at the offending '_blocks_' that prevented his full magical potential. He tried to careful remove them from his mind, he carefully tried to lift them out of the way, nothing was working.

Frustrated that this was approach was not working Harry decided on another approach, using the full force of his magic he threw his magical might directly against the _blocks_, forcefully obliterating the them from his mind, this was neither gentle nor controlled, only sheer brute force.

The _blocks_ were smashed apart, even the imaginary particles being destroyed into nothing, there was now nothing to prevent his full potential now.

Harry returned from his mind, he could feel his power flowing into his body, his centre becoming charged with magic of undeniable proportions, sparks were jumping off the ends of his fingers, his hair, as messy as it was, was standing upright and blowing in an imaginary wind.

There was 'Power' and then there was 'Harry'

With all the power that was cascading through his body he started to shut down. His heart was pounding harder than his thought was possible, trying to maintain a balance, his mind was becoming overloaded and the energy spitting from his body was too much, in the end Harry slumped unconscious in the sitting room, his last thoughts

'_Dumbledore when I get my hands on you, you will know what real power is!_'

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_Back at Hogwarts._

Professor Dumbledore sat at his desk contemplating what to do about Harry Potter, it would only be a few weeks before everyone returned to school, how would he begin to reconcile his relationship with Harry. He could not ignore him any longer, he needed him to defeat Voldemort and his deatheaters.

He would have to tell him the truth, the prophecy was one thing that he had kept from Harry for far to long, that had been a mistake. The responsibility for his vaults would probably be another, however the mental blocks he had placed on him as a child, when he had placed him with the Dursley's would probably be the breaking point.

At that moment Dumbledore felt something in the air, there was a charged feeling, a feeling of dread, a feeling of hopefulness. It felt like………..,

"Harry, what have you done?"

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_Let me know what you think…………_

_Sheeps_


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer**: - I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. Anything you recognise is hers; everything else is purely my imagination-running wild…..

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_At that moment Dumbledore felt something in the air, there was a charged feeling, a feeling of dread, a feeling of hopefulness. It felt like………..,_

"_Harry, what have you done?"_

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Harry woke up sprawled in his sitting room, surrounded by various objects that once covered the shelves and cupboards the sitting room, it looked like a mini whirlwind had entered the room and destroyed everything in it's path.

'_What am I doing on the floor?_' went through Harry's mind as his slowly raised himself up from the floor, stumbling over to his chair.

Harry sat down, in the now three legged chair, trying to remember what had occurred, _pain, intense pain throughout his entire body, the feeling of euphoria filling his entire being, loss of consciousness , blank, black……_

Harry sat in his chair thinking about what had occurred, finally grasping at his edge of recollection,

"Bloody Dumbledore! He placed blocks on my mind", he said aloud

Harry stood up abruptly and stumbled forward, catching himself on the edge of the table, his head felt like a fog bank had been lifted. He slowly shook his head trying to clear the remaining drowsiness from his mind.

Slowly walking towards the kitchen to get a drink of water, he didn't know how much time had past but he felt extremely thirsty.

'_I must have been out for sometime_' he thought to himself.

Returning to the sitting room, with the drink in his hand, Harry surveyed the damage to the room. Things were everywhere, chairs were broken, the table was only just standing but appeared to have nearly been spilt in two along the table top, the carpets looked like a there was soot all over them. Books and crockery littered the entire floor, the only space where there didn't appear to be anything was the body shaped outline that was lying on the floor in front of his chair.

'_That must be me_' he thought smiling to himself, looking at the human shaped outline on the floor.

Harry looking around at the devastation decided to tidy up, raising his wand Harry cast a few spells and the broken crockery flew together and then returned to the shelves, the chairs fixed themselves and stood upright against the table as it was being repaired, the floor cleared itself on debris and the soot cleared from the floor.

"Wow! I wasn't that to happen" Harry said aloud looking around, "I was only thinking about fixing the broken items".

Walking through the newly arranged sitting room, Harry sat down in his favourite chair and thought about what Dumbledore had done to him, not informing his about his parents vaults, his parents will, his inheritance, leaving him with the Dursleys, keeping things from him.

As Harry slowly went through, what appeared to be an endless lists of mistreatments, his suspicion of Dumbledore grew

'_What else is he not telling me? What else is he keeping from me, I only thought that I had to face Voldemort not both of them? Why me' _Was the thoughts running through Harry's head.

Deciding that thinking of the past would not get him anywhere and moping in his own self pity would not achieve anything positive, Harry settled for getting even. He would show the wizarding world, Voldemort and Dumbledore that he would control his own destiny and not be controlled via manipulation, threats, praise or any other method that could be employed. Harry's resolve was set he would show them all.

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_Hogwarts._

Professor Dumbledore slowly lowered himself into his seat behind his desk, looking at the order members, their conversation low, their eyes looking frequently to Dumbledore searching for answers to questions that they didn't know they wanted.

Releasing the silence, "I have called you here to once again to discuss Harry Potter, a little while ago I felt a power manifest itself, it felt full of hope full and at the same time of despair" he paused looking at the members sitting in his magically expanded office.

"Severus do you know what Voldemort" most of the occupants gasped "is planning?" he looked at Snape.

Severus Snape sat at the edge of the office, looking up at the headmaster "No, although he is aware that Potter is missing and that it was him is removed his deatheaters from Diagon Alley."

Everyone listened to this commentary letting his words settle before breaking out into heated conversations, mainly centering on finding Harry.

"Molly have your children heard anything from Harry since the last letters that he sent?" Dumbledore asked Mrs. Weasley.

"No Albus, they haven't heard anything at all, I very worried about the poor boy, he should be where he has love and a family" Molly stated.

The conversation within the office continued, discussing Voldemort's latest attacks, the whereabouts of Harry Potter and what the future would bring.

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_Black Cottage._

Harry had finally finished moping around feeling sorry for himself and had thrown himself into studying the dark arts. Not defence the dark art but The Dark Arts.

Harry continued to read the black books and carried out ritual after ritual, only stopping when even his own '_line drawn in the sand_' would be crossed. Throughout his endeavours Harry had improved his eye sight, increased his body and muscle mass, improved his strength and speed. The blocks once removed from his magical core seemed to give him renewed confidence and agility.

The ability to cast ever increasing spells with speed became second nature and instead of attempting seven and eight times to get a spell correct he could cast them either first time or second time at most.

Hedwig was in constant use, flying back and forth from the Cottage to Diagon Alley and others, bringing Harry new books, potions and other items that would help him improve.

Hedwig did like her masters course of action but after her master had pleaded with her that he was doing the right thing she relented and ferried all of his requested items.

Harry was standing in the grounds of his cottage casting spell after spell at ever moving targets that he had conjured, his accuracy and speed were unbelievable and his ability to move appeared to be second nature, leaping, jumping, crouching, ducking as each object flew past him. It had taken a few weeks to get this good, but Harry was uncertain about real life – he didn't have anything to practice against.

Taking the plunge Harry spoke to Hedwig, "Hedwig, I need you to one more thing for me" Harry looked at his owl

"Can you take this note to Madam Malkin's and wait for this item". His snowy owl regarded him, yellow eyes blinking.

"It's nothing bad, it just a hooded cloak with an obscuring charm on the hood so people won't see my face when I go out" Harry explained to Hedwig.

Hedwig took the note from her master and flew office into the sky, heading in the direction of London. Harry sat back on the ground and looked up into the sky following her ever decreasing form until he could no longer she her.

Harry got up and returned to the cottage, wiping the sweat from his brow and the hair from his eyes. Harry was in the mood to talk to people and to have them talk to him, surrounded by his own company was okay for a little while but even he need company and although Hedwig was good company she couldn't talk back.

The start of Hogwarts was still a few weeks away and Harry would have to get his OWL results, how he didn't know at this stage, but he was certain that he had passed most of the exams and the ones that he may have passed like potions he wasn't going to take anyway.

'_Right tomorrow, I will venture into the wizarding world and see what has changed_' he thought to himself.

Hedwig returned later that night dropping the cloak off with Harry before settling down to a well-deserved rest.

In the morning Harry picked up the cloak and tried it on, the cloak covered him from head to toe and with the hood pulled up made him look like a 'grim reaper', laughing Harry cast a '_chameleon_' charm on his face. If someone pulled his hood off then they wouldn't see his face they would only see what was behind him, his face would blend into the background.

Picking up a tea bag, Harry pointed his wand and muttered '_Portus_' turning the once tea bag into a portkey that would take him straight to the apparation point in Diagon Alley.

'_Need to learn how to apparate_' he thought.

Touching his wand to the tea bag Harry felt the familiar pull through his navel and he felt himself constrict as he was thrust through the atmosphere appearing in Diagon Alley a moment later. Looking around, he saw people going about their everyday business, bustling to and fro, moving from shop to shop.

Harry suddenly aware that he was attracting attention moved off and headed towards Gringotts, entering the building Harry could feel the wards and noticed that there were quite a few charms that would trap anyone with ill intensions towards the goblins.

Harry marched up to the first teller and waited,

"What can I do for you?" was the sharp question.

"I wish to visit my vault" came Harry's reply, the cloak still covering him from head to toe.

"And what vault do you wish to visit?"

"The Potter Vault" Harry said quietly, trying not to be overheard. He didn't want his first venture into Diagon Alley to be found out. Harry handed over his key and waited.

"Please come with me" the goblin said after a small pause.

Harry was lead behind the counters and towards a small office.

"Griphook, it is nice to see you again" said Harry as he entered the office, lowering his hood.

"Mr. Potter, I did not expect to see you again so soon" Griphook replied, without hesitation he continued "You should be aware that I am to report your whereabouts to Headmaster Dumbledore if you turn up in this bank" he informed Harry.

"Then it is good that I am not here – isn't it" came Harry's curt reply. Harry didn't bother to hid the irritation in his voice.

"Yes, it is Mr. Potter" Griphook, smile a rather unnerving smile, rows of teeth being displayed as he smiled.

Harry didn't wait before asking his next question, "Griphook, as you did me a service when we met a few weeks ago I have another service that you may be able to help me with, I will pay handsomely for this information"

Griphook smiled increased, if that was possible. "What service can we provide you with?" he asked.

Harry smiled, one that nearly matched Griphook's.

"I wish for you to first purchase the controlling options on a muggle company called 'Grunnings Drills'. I then wish for one of the directors to be removed, if this is not acceptable to them then you are to close the company immediately" Harry continued to smile.

"The director in question is one Vernon Dursley"

Harry paused making sure that Griphook understood what he required.

"I then wish for you to purchase the mortgage of number 4 Privet Drive and place the deeds in my vault" Harry smile now matched that of Griphook's.

Harry could only think about taking revenge on his so-called family, this would be the start of getting even.

"I believe that you may take five percent of the total purchase price as commission" Harry said to Griphook "Is this acceptable?"

"It is Mr. Potter, it is" replied Griphook. "I shall inform you of when this is complete"

"Please call me Harry" Harry said, "If possible I would like to see my vault now"

Harry returned from his vault and exited out of the front doors, his cloak and hood pulled up, making sure that he had reapplied his '_chameleon' _charm back on his face. Harry wandered out into the Alley and turned to get some owl treats for Hedwig. Harry had a few purchases to make today, nothing big but things that he didn't want to let Hedwig do.

Entering the Owl Emporium Harry ordered owl treats and a perch, he passed by the snakes only to hear them complaining about being stuck in glass cages. Although Harry could understand snakes he certainly didn't want one, even if he could talk it, they only spoke about food and mates, '_not the sort of conversation that I'm looking for' _he thought.

Harry continued shopping entering Flourish and Blott's was his penultimate stop. Walking over to the counter "Can you please arrange for someone to get me the sixth year books for Hogwarts, all part from potions" Harry said to the clerk at the desk.

The clerk behind the desk looked up and flinched, "Who are you?" he asked, his voice quivering.

"I'm Har…..a student who will be attending Hogwarts, year six" Harry replied, he'd forgotten that his still had on his cloak with the _obscuring_ charm on it, it must have made him look like a deatheater.

"It will take about ten minutes to have all of your books ready, will you wait?" the clerk said, still not sure of the man in front of him.

"I will wait, if that is okay" Harry didn't want to leave and return, he still had one last stop to make and didn't want to have to return to the alley to collect his books.

The clerk made his way from behind the counter and entered to the main part of the shop, disappearing behind some shelves. Harry continued to wait fifteen minutes had passed and Harry was becoming annoyed, what was taking so long?

Suddenly the man appeared and placed all of the books on the counter, placing them an orderly fashion, DADA, charms, conjuring, runes, arithmancy, herbology, the clerk quickly added up the purchases. Harry noticed that the man was perspiring and looking extremely nervous.

"Is there something the matter?" Harry asked looking at the man. The clerk continued to look nervous, looking out of the window of the shop.

"No….no nothing sir, that will be three hundred and ninety galleons" the clerk said. Harry paid the man, placing all of the books were in his bottomless bag. Harry quickly left the shop and glanced about the Alley, nothing appeared to be out of place.

Turning Harry entered Knockturn Alley, he didn't look out of place with his cloak and hood up, He flared his aura slightly and made sure that no one would interrupt his passage down the Alley. Entering the last shop his strode up to the counter.

"You sell the animagus potion" Harry stated, it wasn't exactly a question and they way Harry said it implied that he didn't want a refusal.

"And if I did – what is it to you?" the old woman said from behind the counter

"I wish to purchase it, state your price" Harry didn't want to be refused, but to show fear in this Alley would lead others to think that he was a light touch.

"You know that it take three months to brew and is controlled by the Ministry" the old woman continued, "How do I know that you don't work for the ministry?"

Harry had thought about this, throwing one thousand galleons down on the counter Harry replied "Would the ministry pay for something that they alone control?" Harry smiled, although it couldn't be seem inside his hood.

"Do you wish to sell or not – make up your mind quickly or I'll find another that does"

The old woman rose from her stool and walked into the back of the shop, returning quickly she placed a smoking crucible on the counter top.

Harry looked at the potion and placing a _containment_ charm on the crucible placed it in his bag.

"It will be good for a further three months" the old woman stated placing the galleons under the counter.

Harry left the shop and walked about the Diagon Alley, Harry had noticed that the Aurors were looking for him in connection with his earlier attack on the deatheaters when he was last here and he had had enough on conversations with shop keepers to last a life time.

Walking to the apparation point Harry heard small pops, looking around he saw ten Aurors had just apparated into the Alley, they seemed to be taking up positions around him, slowing Harry turned and faced the nearest one.

"Lower you hood!" who Harry assumed to be the lead Auror stated, his wand raised in a strike position.

Harry noticed that the other Aurors had slowly circled around him and could see that the general populous were backing away from the inevitable confrontation.

"Why?" was all Harry said.

"Do not question me" yelled the Auror, "Just do it"

Harry felt the hairs on his neck rise, he had just been spoken to like his uncle, Vernon Dursley used to speak to him, like a dog expecting to be obeyed without question.

"And what if I refuse?" Harry taunted back "I have done nothing wrong, nothing at all"

Harry's voice did not sound like a sixteen year olds, there was one thing to be said for carry out the rituals that he had carried out, when screaming yourself hoarse, your voice either gave up and disappeared or your voice dropped. Harry's voice had dropped.

None of the Aurors had expected that, they were here in numbers and this was one man standing before them. The lead Auror was expecting this to be an easy exercise, the clerk at the book store had informed them of a suspect wizard, one that wouldn't allow his face to be seen, this could only be a wanted deatheater.

Not want to prolong this any longer than necessary and attracting a crowd of people was not what the Aurors had wanted. The lead Auror cast the first spell.

"_Expelliarmus_"

The other's surrounding Harry quickly followed,

"_Stupefy_"

"_Petrificus Totalus_"

"_Petrificus_"

Harry saw the change of stance the Auror took, the slight change in his facial expression, the twitch on his wand hand, all before he cast the first spell. Harry surveyed the other Auror's, all pointing their wands at him. Judging from this potential confrontation it was unlikely that they would throw anything more than disarming spells at him.

Twisting out of the way of the first four spells, Harry leaped into the air, the spells crashing through where he had been seconds earlier. Twisting in mid air Harry raised his wand and cast spell after spell. These were designed to merely knock out the Aurors and keep them knocked out while Harry was around.

Landing lightly to the side of one of the fallen Aurors, he quickly side stepped another curse as it came hurtling towards him. Transfiguring small stones on the floor into reflective mirrors Harry placed the mirrors in the way of the spells, the spells returned to their senders making them jump out of the way of their own spells. Throwing a shield around himself, Harry advanced on the lead Auror, casually batting away most of the non lethal spells heading in his direction, jumping out of the way of some of the nastier ones.

'_Looks like they are getting desperate_' Harry thought as he avoided the _lung-expelling hex. _

Quickly rounding on the lead Auror, Harry slammed his foot into the Aurors knee and heard it break.

"I did ask you why I had to remove my cloak and hood, but you attacked me first, remember that!" Harry enforced this with a _binding charm_ that completely bound the man from head to toe whilst keeping him conscious.

Harry continued to remove the Aurors from attacking him, when he heard additional pops '_sending reinforcements_' thought Harry '_have to get away from here soon_'

Turning around to face this new threat Harry was surprised to see members of the Order appearing.

'_Not good, not good_' Harry silently mumbled

Harry momentarily distracted was hit from behind by three spells that splashed harmless against his shield, turning round he fired back at the Aurors disarming them and binding them on the floor, his aura starting to flare as his upped his power to compensate for the combined attacks. Harry leaped to the side rolling on the floor coming up to stand, one knee on the floor his wand raised in front of him and looking at the order members, his cloak billowing as it came to rest about his frame.

He could see that Dumbledore, Moody, Tonks and others fanning out to circle him.

"Lower your wand" said Dumbledore, "you can not win this fight" staring at Harry, although Dumbledore did not know that it was Harry under the cloak.

"I don't think so" Harry stated, his eyes darting left and right, marking the order members locations.

"I did nothing wrong and I was attacked without provocation" Harry continued.

Harry used his free hand to sweep his cloak free from his legs, ensuring that they would be free when he had to move.

Dumbledore looked at the wizard, trying to make out his features, he could see through the obscuring charm but couldn't see past the '_chameleon_' charm, that Harry had also used. The young man looked ready to fight and this could cause problems. Dumbledore could see that the wizard in front of him was tall, and well built, he had not used any of the unforgivables and had completed disseminated the Ministry Aurors.

"I would advise that you lower your wand" Dumbledore continued.

Harry slowly stood, his wand held ready in front of him, sweeping his cloak away from his legs, Harry cast another shield around himself. He could sense that Moody was getting ready to attack and decided that he would be first. Throwing caution to the wind Harry rolled to the left and stood in front of Moody, sweeping his leg in an arc he knocked Moody's wooden leg from beneath him, banishing it away.

Moody taken aware dropped like a stone and fell backwards, after Harry had given him a shove with his free hand.

Turning round Harry saw Dumbledore throw a spell at him. Ducking and rolling Harry extended his wand and cast a shield, the spell reached Harry shield and a bright flash of light erupted where the impact had taken place.

Quickly moving away from the impact zone, Harry began to battle with Dumbledore, spells flew thick and fast. Harry knew that this was a fight that he could not win, he may have increased his speed and ability but not to the extent that he could win against Dumbledore, just yet.

Not wanting to back down Harry proceeded to take the fight to Dumbledore, the air became charged with magical energy and the aura's of both men flaring. The only thing keeping Harry out of trouble at the moment was his speed and ability to sense the spells leaving Dumbledore's wand.

Moody and Tonks looked on in awe, they hadn't seen Dumbledore in a fight like this and even this was impressive, the speed of the spells issuing from both men was unbelievable, not only was simple spells being cast but both men was transfiguring items at each other as well. The others who arrived with Dumbledore had backed away they could feel the energy in the air and didn't want to interrupt, one misplaced spell could cause not only injury to the wizard fighting Dumbledore but to Dumbledore himself.

Sensing that his time to remove himself was approaching, Harry took a chance and changed the direction of his spells, his shot a '_Reducto'_ at the floor in front of Dumbledore causing a shower of sharp stone fragments to be blown into the air in front of Dumbledore.

Surprised by this attack Professor Dumbledore raised his hands to protect his face giving Harry time to leap towards to The Leaky Cauldron,

"We will meet again old man!" shouted Harry as he forced his way through the door of the public house, scattering people as he went. Harry ran through the pub and out of the _muggle entrance_. Quickly grabbing his tea bag Harry tapped it with his wand and disappeared from sight.

Tonks and the other members of the Order quickly turned towards Dumbledore, as the wizard Dumbledore was fighting disappeared into The Leaky Cauldron,

"After him" shouted Dumbledore as he wiped the blood from his face, caused by the stone fragments.

Tonks and the others entered the Cauldron at a run, only to have wizards stopping them saying that they had chased after the wizard and saw him disappear in full view of a couple of muggles.

After removing the curses from the Ministry Aurors, Dumbledore and the members of the Order returned to Hogwarts.

"Who was he?" Snape asked, once he had heard the entire story.

"I don't know" Professor Dumbledore answered, he was drinking a healing draught and the small wounds could be seen disappearing as he spoke.

"He was extremely powerful, nearly as powerful as I" Dumbledore continued, "however there was something familiar about him" he mused.

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_Black Cottage._

Harry arrived back in a heap on the floor.

"Bloody portkeys" he muttered lifting himself off the floor.

"Great!, Go to Diagon Alley, battle Aurors and bloody Dumbledore in my first venture out in weeks" he shouted at the sky. "What else can go wrong?"

Harry entered the cottage and sat down at the kitchen table.

'_Still not bad… to hold Dumbledore to a standstill and leave_' Harry thought, '_those rituals must have paid off_'

Emptying his bottomless bag out on the table Harry removed the Hedwig's perch from it shrinking charm and placed it in the sitting room. Once that was completed Harry moved toward the stairs and made his way to his bed.

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_Hogwarts._

"Albus, do you think another player has entered the arena?" Snape asked…….

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_Let me know what you think……_

_Sheeps_


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer**: - I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. Anything you recognise is hers; everything else is purely my imagination-running wild…..

_Hogwarts._

"_Albus, do you think another player has entered the arena?" Snape asked……._

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_Black Cottage._

Harry awoke the following morning, aching, '_why the hell am I am aching so much_' he looked down at himself, '_why do I have so much cuts and bruises_'

Harry started to remember the visit to Diagon Alley yesterday and his confrontation with the Aurors and the members from the Order of the Phoenix. His memory returned awfully fast and he remembered his encounter with Dumbledore, his battle with Moody and the others.

'_At least they didn't get to see my face_' he thought as he rolled out of bed and entered the kitchen, walking stiffly.

Harry went to the nearest cupboard and with drew a few potion vials, a pain-reliving potion, a _pepper up_ potion and a muscle-relaxing potion. Once the steam had finished coming from his ears he sat down at the table, potion vials littering the tabletop.

"Well Hedwig, my little jaunt to Diagon Alley didn't go exactly as planned" he said looking at his snowy owl, who was sitting on her newly purchased perch, preening herself.

Hedwig stopping cleaning her feathers and gave her master a look that conveyed a looked that said, '_well that is an understatement_'.

"I did manage to get all of my books for my sixth year though," Harry continued, "and a few more books on Occlumency and Legilimency". Harry moved towards the kitchen sink and filled a cup with water, raising his wand he heated it until it was ready to place the tea bag into it, adding a splash of milk, he let the tea stand before removing the bag and throwing it into the bin.

"I have just over two weeks to learn these before I have to return to Hogwarts, before running into Dumbledore and his team of _slightly overcooked chickens_", he smiled at his own little joke. '_Not too bad for the Order of the Phoenix – the slightly overcooked chickens_' he thought.

"However, I think that a little pay back may be in order before I return, a visit to some of the lesser known deatheaters may be in order before I return", taking a sip from his tea, "they deserve something for their efforts in making my life hell"

Harry returned to his living room and began to read his books, absorbing the information and assimilating the knowledge contained within.

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_Hogwarts._

Dumbledore and Moody made their way towards the Headmaster's office, following not too far behind were the other members of the order.

"Well, Albus, who do you think that this new wizard is? He seemed to be able to hold his own against you and he took me out before I knew what was happening – I don't like it."

"Alastor, what ever happened to 'constant vigilance'" Albus Dumbledore smiled as they entered his office, "I would have thought that you would have been prepared, however it does concern me that we appear to have a new player on the field", Dumbledore sat down behind his desk and continued, "and we are unsure of what side he is on"

The members of the order entered the office and sat down in the arranged chairs, in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"Sir, the goblins are not saying anything and the shop keepers did not see his face, however we did learn that he bought nothing out of the ordinary in any of the shops that he went into" Tonks said as she sat down. "Only owl treats, a perch and as strange as it sounds a complete set of Hogwarts sixth year books, perhaps it was a student?" she concluded.

"Nymphadora, I don't believe that a student would have the capabilities to hold their own in a duel against me" Dumbledore stated.

Tonks eyes flashed at the use of her full name, "It just seems strange that someone would want to purchase a full set of sixth year books without their face being seen"

"He was also extremely fast on his feet and he managed to disable the Aurors before we even got there." Moody growled, "I don't like it, something's wrong with the whole set-up"

"Who ever this new wizard is we will have to keep an eye on the situation and report any findings, please let everyone know what you find out" Dumbledore said as he now addressed the whole order.

"It has also come to my attention that Voldemort has not planned anything in a while and while this is good news I have a feeling that this may change. People will soon be going to Diagon Alley to obtain their school things and this would be a prime opportunity to make his mark" Dumbledore continued.

"I would advise caution to all of you in this room and remain alert for any activity when you are in the Diagon Alley".

"Albus, have you heard anything from Harry", sounded the voice of Mrs Weasley, "Neither Ron nor Hermione have heard anything from him since his last letter"

"No Molly, I have heard nothing from Harry since his last day from school in the summer, the only good news in all of this is that Voldemort does not appear to know where he is" Dumbledore said.

After a few hours off discussions the members of the order broke up

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_A Week Later – Hogsmeade._

Harry stood in the corner of one of the alleys in Hogsmeade, his cloak wrapped round his body, his hood pulled up and his face was once again had the _obscuring charm_ and the _chameleon charm_ on it.

Since learning _Occlumency_ and _Legilimency _from the books that he had purchased in Diagon Alley he had come to realise that he had a connection to Voldemort that worked both ways. Not only could he now prevent his '_visions_' from Voldemort but he could sense what he was thinking and therefore could pick up on some of Voldemort's plans. His nightmare's were receding but not fully, however these were of his own making and not ones that were sent via his 'link'.

Harry had come to understand that '_clear you mind_' was not an adequate technique for _Occlumency_, thoughts had to be centred and arranged, they had to be organised and orderly. This was just another thing that would have to be addressed when he next met Dumbledore, how the man thought that sending him to Snape would allow his training to block Voldemort with a '_clear your mind_' and then attack using _Legilimency_ was just criminal, _just_ _like a deatheater_.

Harry had managed to absorb the books and even when sleeping his mind, without the blocks placed upon it, seemed to have a natural gift for organising his memories, rearranging his deepest secrets, placing them into different compartments throughout his mind.

Placing _guardians_ at the edge of his mind was another thing Snape seemed to have forgotten to inform him of, the _guardians_ were to alert you to the probe of an invading mind and alert the person of the impending mental attack.

Harry's guardians consisted of Thestral's which patrolled around his envisioned '_mental wall_', these could sense attacks and not be seen, as they could fly it gave them the benefit of being able to not only walk around the perimeter but also fly above it as well. These were backed up by '_seeing eye towers_' which in Harry's mind were towers placed evenly around his mental wall with eyes that would also alert him to the presence of a invading mind. He had placed traps randomly throughout his mind as well, he being the only one that would be able to release a trapped person, he hoped.

Mentally he had placed 'Fred and George's' portable swamps, where intruders would be stuck, Dementors which would '_suck the life_' out of you, leaving the invading mind open to attack and finally his memories were locked behind walls so thick that even with a ballistic missile you would have trouble getting through them.

So Harry stood in the alley way, fully aware that Voldemort would be sending his deatheaters into Hogsmeade a week before students would be returning to Hogwarts, this was just a minor attack to ensure that no one had forgotten about him and his ability to ensure that the chaos would cause maximum exposure.

Harry turned around and faced the street, students and their parents could be seen walking up and down the length of the street going into various shops to buy their supplies, Diagon Alley was not the only place that people shopped for school supplies.

Hearing the familiar sounds of apparition, Harry waited and counted the number of pops that sounded. Ten pops could be heard, Harry quickly counted the ten black cloaks that appeared and before the familiar shouts of spells being cast could be heard he erupted into action.

His fight in Diagon Alley with the Aurors and the members of the order of the Phoenix had given him some confidence in his fighting abilities as well as the training that he had undertaken at Black Cottage.

Quickly launching a few quick spells at the deatheaters Harry literally flew out of the alley and into the mound of deatheaters, kicking and disabling all in his path. His spells were not what you would call light in any way. He had thought that he wouldn't be capable of causing permanent injuries to others, but his treatment at the hands of not only Voldemort but Dumbledore and his order had caused him to re-think his priorities, disable, disarm, _even de-leg first_, then ask questions later, _if there was a later._

The deatheaters seemed momentarily confused as to what was happening, they were expecting to enter Hogsmeade unawares, create as much mayhem and chaos as possible and then leave, they were not expecting to be attacked the moment they appeared and certainly not by one person who seemed to decimate their ranks faster than they could react.

The spells from Harry were nothing short of unforgivable, with _stupefies_ being the most light spell in his range, _Reducto's_, _Blasting Curses, _were all fired at the deatheaters. Harry did not want to get into a duel at this moment in time with any one, certainly not a deatheater.

The fight, or lack of it was over in a matter of seconds, the deatheaters not standing a chance against their opponent. The street had quickly cleared on shoppers as they fled into nearby buildings hearing the sounds of the battle and seeing the deatheaters apparate into Hogsmeade.

Harry quickly surveyed the damage caused and realised that they deatheaters had not managed to get a single curse off during their time in Hogsmeade, thanking the goddess of luck for her timely involvement in his life, he quickly cast a cutting hex at each of their left arms and removed the fabric from their robes exposing their left arms. He wanted to be sure that they were all marked and the easiest way was for the dark mark to be revealed. Making sure that the dark mark was exposed he threw a cutting hex straight at each of their legs, finally banishing their legs away so that they could no longer use them. It seemed to be his trademark, let the _legless wonders_ all act like Moody, see if they could walk around with a peg legs, this would be their payment for working with a egotistical megalomaniac like Voldemort.

Harry turned to the nearest deatheater and banished his mask away revealing his face, not recognising the person beneath the mask Harry quickly entered his mind using his recently learnt Legilimency. Rummaging through the deatheaters mind Harry quickly sort what he was looking for, recent contacts, meetings with other deatheaters, meeting places and the like. He stopped looking through the deatheaters mind when he happened upon the man's liking for maiming and killing, not wanting anymore information from the deatheater Harry quickly moved to the side alley and grabbed his portkey and tapping it once appeared back at Black Cottage. _He really needed to learn how to apparate._

For three consecutive days and nights reports flooded into the Aurors and the Daily Prophet that there had been attacks made against deatheaters, only a few injuries occurred to the general populous and no deaths which was remarkable in itself. The attacker, always hooded, exposed the deatheaters left arms and once discovering the dark mark removed their legs.

The Daily Prophet reported the event with undue clarity.

**Daily Prophet**

**Mysterious Stranger Attacks Deatheaters**

For the past three days a mysterious Wizard has attacked and removed the legs of various deatheaters. The last attack occurred in Upper Shillingfordham, a quiet village consisting of a few local shops where wizards and muggles alike could shop.

The wizard waited for the deatheaters to appear before knocking them all out, only a few injuries occurred and these were of a minor nature. This makes the total number of deatheaters removed by this wizard to thirty.

Is this wizard to be trusted or is he a vigilante. The Ministry had no comment to make on the subject, only that this wizard is sought for questioning in connection with the attacks. Another trusted source at the Ministry informed the Daily Prophet that this could only be a good thing.

Let us know your comments, do you know who this wizard is, are you scared to come forward in case of attacks, let us know.

Harry threw down the paper onto the table in his kitchen. After going out for three consecutive nights and stopping Voldemort's minions from attacking innocent wizards and muggles he felt tired. His _Occlumency _was working for him and continued to improve his mental skills. He had discovered Voldemort's plans and had successfully interrupted them, however after his previous excursions he had decided that unless there was a major offensive about to take place then he didn't want to alert Voldemort that something was wrong, just let him think that they were well planned random attacks.

Harry next course of action was to visit a few of the deatheaters that he had obtained from the minds of the past few days. He would not go after the inner circle as they were likely to be protected far better than Voldemort's other 'disposable' lackeys.

Quickly grabbing a bite to eat and settling down to a small nap, he thought back to when he had taken the Animagus potion, he had bought from Knockturn Alley. He had taken the potion and fallen into a trance like state, images occurring and jumping from one to another with no break in between. The images were not clear and did not stay long enough for Harry to get a good idea of what they were. As time continued a image kept reoccurring, an image of bird, black feathers, flight, majestic soaring, clear skies, keen eyesight, razor sharp bill. There were only a few animals that this could be, it certainly wasn't magical. There were only a few birds that Harry could be, a crow, a blackbird, however it was a raven, the harbingers of death and destruction.

At the time of Harry discovering his Animagus form his only thoughts were '_typical, just typical, I always wanted to fly, however to be the bringer of death and destruction is just typical – fate is a cruel mistress sometimes_, _however given my current feelings it is poetic justice_'

Harry had read one of the books on Animagus transformation, which he had bought from one of the shop in Knockturn Alley and had tried the beginnings of the transformation. He had managed to settle his mind, via his _Occlumency_ training but had had very little success, '_no wonder that his father had taken a number of years to perfect the transformation'_.

Harry had given very little thought to the process and his mind kept bulking at the thought of his body becoming smaller and changing shape. Whilst Harry settled down to his nap his mind drifted once again to the transformation, he could see in his minds eyes what he wanted to become, he could visualise the transformation and had attempted small parts of the change. The backs of his arms and hands could sprout feathers, the feathers were small but defined. '_I will just have to keep trying_' he thought to himself.

After waking from his nap Harry proceeded to put on his cloak, castings the various charms necessary to conceal his face.

A small _hoot_ could be heard from behind him and Harry turned to observe Hedwig.

"I know that I shouldn't be doing this, but can you see anyone else taking these people out and stopping them from hurting others, Hedwig?" Harry said, looking at his owl.

Hedwig continued to observe her master, if an owl could frown then Hedwig was frowning.

"I will soon be back at Hogwarts and then I won't be able to leave to do this" Harry paused in his speech, "I can remove these deatheaters from hurting anyone else at the moment. Dumbledore and his club aren't preventing anything from happening and Snape isn't or won't inform Dumbledore of what Voldemort is doing and therefore they can not act".

Hedwig looked at her master and flew over and landed on his shoulder, a slight nip at his ear lobe was the only sign that she was worried.

"I'll be safe girl, I'll be back before you know it"

Harry turned round and grabbed a used tea bag, muttering _Portus_ under his breath he turned the tea bag into a portkey and tapped it with his wand, disappearing from the kitchen.

Landing in a sleepy hollow, Harry could see a few houses in the distance, '_I have got to learn how to apparate, can't keep using tea bags as portkeys_'

Harry slowly walked towards one of the house, he could sense the wards surrounding the property.

'_At least those dark rituals are paying off, I wouldn't have been able to see those wards before_' Harry thought as he approached the property.

They had the usual wards up, anti-apparation, anti-portkey, and muggle confusion wards. Glancing at the strongest point in the wards, Harry focused on the matrix where the wards began, he slowly pushed his magic towards to the centre of the wards focus point and gently gave the wards a push.

The display of lights that accompanies the magic push was quite impressive, a small visual light display could be seen and he cold see movement from within the house. There appeared to be a man, his wife and their two children. The man ran out of the property and stood at the edge of his property looking all around trying to figure out why his wards suddenly went off, soon his wife and children accompanied him at the front door and they all stood looking at the gate at the front of the house for any signs of movement.

Harry stood just beyond the gate, _disillusioned_, his cloak blowing slightly in the wind.

'_Great, he has a family and I think that those children are about to start at Hogwarts looking at there faces, they look old enough_' were the thoughts running through his mind.

Harry waited for them to return inside the house and then pushed his magic at the wards once again, this time it was not a gentle push, this was a _trident missile_ attack, there was no plan, just overpower the wards and bring them down.

Harry was sure that there would have been detection spells that would have recognised intruders not keyed into the house wards and didn't want to give the occupants the time to make a break for it.

Blasting the wards Harry quickly made his way towards the house, his cloak billowing behind him, running at full speed Harry saw the man exit the house. Catching him unawares, Harry shot a spell straight at the man immobilising him where he stood. The man just fell over onto his face and collapsed on the ground.

Nearing the house he could see the rest of the family running towards to the open front door, cast a quick couple of _stupefies_ the rest of the family fell down in the hallway. Quickly casting a few detection spells at the house Harry could only determine that they were the only occupants and was relieved that there was not any others.

Once Harry had reached the house and finally had his breathing under control, his adrenalin was running extremely high. Harry looked at the bound occupants, the man was out cold but the woman and children were very conscious and their eyes were frantically looking at Harry. All they would be able to see would be a tall man in a black cloak with an obscured hood.

Casting a wandless charm at the children, the equivalent of a dreamless sleeping potion, Harry put the children to sleep. He didn't want them to see what he was about to do.

"I'm sorry about this" Harry said to the woman lying on the floor, "but I have reason to believe that your husband here," pointing at the man on the floor, "is a deatheater"

Harry then proceeded to cast a cutting hex at the fabric of the mans left arm exposing nothing!

Harry stood back in shock, this wasn't possible, he had read the deatheaters minds and this man was definitely a deatheater. Looking more closely at the arm Harry could see a difference in the skin pigmentation on the arm and the hand. There was a glamour charm on his arm!

Relieved that Harry had not made a terrible mistake Harry cast a spell at the mans arm.

"_Finite Incantatem_"

The dark mark slowly appeared on the mans arm, Harry dropped down to the floor and lifted the arm up so that the woman could see the dark mark.

"I assure you that I mean you no harm Harry said, facing the woman, "but I can not allow this man to roam free as a deatheater"

"You and your children will be safe, however I will alert the Ministry to this event"

Harry dropped the mans arm and slowly walked away, turning round Harry cast a cutting hex at the mans legs completely removing them from his body, banishing them away.

Harry started to continue to walk away towards to the gate,

"The charms will wear off in a little while and the children will not wake for a few hours," Harry paused in his conversation, even though it was one sided, "I don't thank that the children should be punished for the actions of their father"

Harry left through the open gate and once outside tapped his wand to the used tea bag and moments later appeared at Black Cottage.

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_Hogwarts._

It was a few day before the start of the new school year and a general discussion was taking place concerning the new students that were to start and the existing students and their choices for the courses for NEWT's.

"Albus, I still have been unable to send Mr. Potter his OWL results to him, all the owls are refusing to take him any form of message" Professor McGonagall informed the staff present.

"I know, we have been unable to contact Harry since the start of the summer, however I am sure that he will be attending school on the 1st of September along with his class mates" Dumbledore replied, "How did he do Minerva?"

"Well he did extremely well, he got 'O's in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms and Transfiguration, he also managed to obtain an outstanding in Potions.

"I will not be teaching Potter anything" snapped Professor Snape

Not deterred by the snarky comments from Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall continued, "He also obtained Exceeds Expectations in Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures". She paused whilst looking at the sheet of parchment in front of her, "However he did not do too well on History of Magic and Astronomy, however that is to be expected at what happened during those exams"

"Well, it appears that Harry did very well in his exams, however Severus if Harry decides to take potions as a NEWT level subject there is nothing that you can do about it, as he did pass with an outstanding grade"

Professor Snape went to comment but thought better of it.

The discussion soon turned to the general topic of the up and coming feast and the new students entering Hogwarts.

"We have received quite a number of families that have been effected by the wizard attacking the deatheaters" Minerva said at one point, "We will have to treat them with a lot more sympathy than usual, it appears that quite a few of the families were unaware that the fathers were deatheaters"

At that moment the fireplace flared into life and Kingsley Shacklebolt's face appeared in the fire "Albus?"

"Ah, just a minute Kingsley, we are just in the middle of a school meeting, please come through"

"I trust that everything will be ready for the opening feast and the coming of the new students" Dumbledore said addressing the remaining professors, dismissing them from his office.

The professors meeting had just about closed with all relevant discussions having already taken place, at that moment Kingsley Shacklebolt step out of the floo and into the headmaster office. The only remaining professors left in the office were also member of the order and were privy to any conversations that were to take place.

Sitting down facing the headmaster, Shacklebolt looked round the office.

"Professor" Kingsley said addressing the headmaster, "I have just come from a meeting of the Ministry, it appears that as well as the attacks on the deatheaters over the past couple of days, it appears that our mysterious wizard had been visiting a number of unknown deatheaters at their homes"

The silence in the headmaster's office was deafening, you could have heard a pin drop in the corridor outside.

Not waiting for any comments from anyone Shacklebolt continued, "It appears that a number of the deatheaters that have been visited by this unknown wizard worked in various departments within the Ministry, the Ministry is in chaos, no one is trusting any of their colleagues at the moment"

Dumbledore looked at his colleagues, they appeared to be shocked at the thought of so many deatheaters in the Ministry.

"How has this occurred Kingsley?" Albus asked the Auror.

Kingsley sat further back in his chair and considered the question before answering, "Well this wizard just appears at the home of a deatheater, breaks through the wards and attacks the occupants, however he does not attack anyone else only the deatheater"

Shacklebolt looked at the headmaster before continuing, "He does not attack everyone, although he does leave everyone bound and defenceless" Shacklebolt shuddered at his next statement.

"He also removes both of their legs before leaving the scene and then we receive an owl at the department informing us of the attack and the location, we arrive and find the family bound with the deatheaters arm displayed with the dark mark"

Everybody sat still, this was something that no one could comprehend. Having Voldemort attack was one thing, having _another Voldemort_ on the loose was unthinkable, even if they were attacking deatheaters. To attack and overpower wards, any wards was a feat in itself and spoke of the individual having a vast amount of power. There were curse breakers that studied the breaking of wards, but this was achieved over a numbers of days or weeks at least, you couldn't just overpower them.

Albus Dumbledore looked at his assembled colleagues,

"Severus is there any news on Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked

Severus Snape, order member and deatheater, looked at Dumbledore,

"The Dark Lord is aware of this new threat to his dominance, he had lost over thirty deatheaters in the past week and is not happy with the situation" Snape responded,

"He has tasked a few of his inner circle with the task of locating this wizard"

"Then it is somebody that is unknown to both Voldemort and the Ministry" Kingsley Shacklebolt stated out loud.

"Of course!" Snapped Snape at Kingsley, "The Dark Lord would not attack his own men without reason"

It was well known that to displease Voldemort meant being placed under the _Cruciatus Curse, _however it was rare that Voldemort killed his own deatheaters, only in extreme anger did this occur and very rarely did it happen.

"Well we are dealing with other unknown wizard whose power appears to rival both myself and Voldemort, this is extremely disturbing" Dumbledore said to the people in the office, "We can only hope that he doesn't wish to join Voldemort and his attacks on the Ministry and the general population"

"At the moment I can't see that happening Professor" Kingsley said, "It appears that this new wizard does not like Voldemort or his deatheaters any more the we do, however he is also keen to show it and not afraid to use his power in showing it"

"Yes, yes, however power does tend to corrupt given enough time, Kingsley" Dumbledore interjected.

See as there was little more that could be achieved at the impromptu meeting, Kingsley and the Professor went there separate ways, leaving Dumbledore contemplating what his next actions would be.

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_The Burrow._

"Ron have you got everything" Mrs Weasley shouted up the stairs at the Burrow.

It was that time of the year again and everything at the Burrow was as usual in complete chaos. There were things everywhere, robes on the backs of chairs, spare bits of parchment lying on the table with notes on, books littered the chairs in the sitting room.

"Yes Mum" came the hollered reply from Ron

"Not just have you got everything but have you packed everything!" came Molly's reply

"I'm getting round to it" replied Ron, although this time his voice would not be heard outside of his room.

"We won't have time to pack things tomorrow and they need to be packed tonight, Ginny, Hermione, have you got everything?"

"Yes Mum!" shouted Ginny from her bedroom, accompanied a little while later by "Yes Mrs Weasely" from Hermione.

"Do you think that Harry will be at the station tomorrow?" Ginny said to Hermione as she placed the last of her robes into the trunk.

"Yes, of course, he said that he would," replied Hermione

Both the girls were worried about Harry, usually he would come and stay at the Burrow for the last couple of weeks of the summer holidays, but this year he had just disappeared. Only one letter had been received from Harry since his disappearance and that was to let them know that he was alright and would be attending Hogwarts the coming year.

"I don't know what Harry is playing at," said Hermione as she placed the last of her books into her trunk, which was already overflowing. "He shouldn't just disappear where no one can find him, what would happen if Voldemort found him?"

Hermione and Ginny each closed their trunks within a second of each other and then sat on them facing each other.

"I don't know what to think Hermione" said Ginny, "He seemed so lost last year on the train home and then he left with those things he calls relatives"

Ginny sat contemplating her next statement, "It was funny that he turned them into animals before leaving" she said a large smile on her face.

She knew that Hermione would not find that funny and would probably cause a commotion when she next saw Harry, but it was a prank that Ginny could understand, being a Weasley did leave it mark and living with Fred and George had certainly made her aware of the variety of pranks.

"He should not have done that, he will be in so much trouble for doing that" stated Hermione, with a scowl on her face, "He should know better than to attack muggles, even if they are his relatives"

"Oh come on Hermione, they were turned back and there memories _obliviated_ so that they wouldn't remember anything. It wasn't as if it was permanent," Ginny said still smiling.

At that moment the door to Ginny's room burst open and Ron looked in at the two of them.

"Well all finished?" Ron asked, his arms folded against his chest, breathing heavily, leaning on the door frame.

"Yes and you should knock before opening my door Ron!" said Ginny, "I could have been getting dressed or more importantly Hermione could have been getting dressed"

Ron flushed, as only a Weasley could, his ears glowing, his face lighting up the sides of the hallway.

"Well, yes….. come on Mum said that dinner would be ready in a few minutes" Ron said as he hastily made his way downstairs away from Ginny's bedroom.

Both Ginny and Hermione rose from their seated position and started to walk towards the door.

"I hope that Harry is okay and that he does turn up tomorrow" Ginny said quietly

"As I said before Ginny, I'm sure that he will be there. Come on lets get some dinner, I can see tonight being a long night" Hermione said

As they entered the kitchen they could see that Mrs Weasley had, as normal, outdone her self with the mountains of food laid out on the table. Ron was already sitting down and filling his plate with food.

"Ron! Leave some for the others" Mrs. Weasley said and Ron looked up from his plate, the spoon still in his hand.

"Ginny, Hermione, please take a seat and start, Arthur won't be too long" she said as she looked at the clock on the wall, it was indicating that Mr Weasley was travelling home.

Once everyone had settled down and started their dinner they all heard a knocking at the kitchen window. They all looked up and saw a snowy white owl sitting on the window frame waiting to be let in, letters tied to her leg.

"Isn't that Hedwig" Hermione said as Ginny rushed to the window to the owl in.

Hedwig flew into the kitchen and circled the table finally settling on an empty chair next to Mr Weasley.

"Yes, that is Hedwig, Harry's owl," Ginny said as she rushed over to Hedwig.

"Ginny please sit down, I will get the letters" Mr Weasley said as he leaned over to relieve Hedwig of her burden.

Hedwig held out her leg for the letters to be removed and once removed she flew up and out of the window.

"I take it that Harry is not expecting a reply," Mr Weasley stated, looking at the letters in his hand.

"Well who are they for dad?" asked Ron, his mouth still full of food.

"Well there seems to be only two letters, one addressed to your mum and I and the other addressed to you, Ginny and Hermione" said Mr Weasley.

Ginny had not quiet sat down and returned to her dad with a speed with some how defied logic. Chuckling to himself Mr Weasley gave the letter to Ginny, who promptly went and sat back down next to Hermione.

"Well Arthur what does Harry have to say" said Molly, ringing her hands against the dishcloth.

Mr Weasley read the letter quickly to himself before explaining what was written within.

"Well it seems that Harry has apologised for not coming to the Burrow for the remaining part of the summer holidays and for causing us any upset over his disappearance." Mr Weasley said looking at Molly, "He hopes that we are all well and will be seeing us at the train station tomorrow."

Mrs Weasley looked relieved at this and sat back in her chair, with a small sigh.

"Well Ginny, what does Harry have to say to you, Ron and Hermione?" Mrs Weasley asked, her attention drawn to the fact that both Hermione and Ginny were very quiet reading Harry's letter.

"It says much the same Mum," Ginny replied, "He says that he is sorry for causing us to worry and that he hopes that we forgive him. He says that he is going to meet us at the train station tomorrow."

"Is that all Ginny?" Mrs Weasley knew when something was being withheld from her, raising six boys had taught her something and from the appearance of both Hermione and her daughter something was definitely not being said.

"Err…. He says that he has also written to Neville and Luna and had apologised to them for getting then hurt in the Department of Mysteries and that he is sorry for getting us involved in something that could have easily been avoided"

"Is that all Ginny?" Mrs Weasley pressed.

"Well he also says that things will be different this year and he hopes that we all understand, I don't really know what he means mum?"

Mrs Weasley considered her thoughts, she knew that her daughter had a crush on Harry but had thought that she had gotten over it by now.

"I'm sure that he will explain everything once he is one the train tomorrow" she paused, "however he does have a lot of explaining to do, what with the mess in Diagon Alley with those deatheaters and not being able to be contacted by Professor Dumbledore"

Mr Weasley interrupted her before she could carry on, "Now Molly, I'm sure that Harry will have everything under control by the time he reaches Hogwarts, for now I believe that we should finish our meal and see what is left to pack, before tomorrow."

Mr Weasley knew that molly would have continued on about how Harry had changed his relatives into animals and that he would probably be talking to the Aurors about his involvement in the battle with the deatheaters in Diagon Alley as well as performing underage magic.

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_King's Cross Station, Platform 9¾_

Nearly the entire Weasley Clan was at King's Cross station, all clustered around their baggage and trunks. Ron, Hermione and Ginny were the only ones leaving for Hogwarts, however both Fred and George had arrived to see them off and Bill had also turned up, as is was working at Gringotts, London, since being recalled from Egypt. The only ones missing ere Charlie and Percy, Charlie because he was looking after dragons in Romania, and Percy, well because he was Percy and had still not reconciled with his family.

"Now I'm sure that Harry will be here soon" said Ms Weasley as she looked at the clock on the station wall, it was fifteen minutes to eleven and the train would leave, without fail, at eleven o'clock.

"But he should be here by now, he will miss the train if he doesn't show up soon" moaned Ginny to her mother.

At that moment, a figured stepped through the wall at the edge of the station, his cloak billowing around his frame, looking as if he had just stepped out of a wind storm. The hood on his cloak was up and he parted the crowd as if he was royalty, his presence just screamed '_get out of my way_'. A quiet hush descended amongst the crowd of witches and wizards as the figure made his way over the Weasley family. Stopping just short of them it was Hermione that noticed the quiet hush and turned round to see the stranger looking at them. A gasp left her mouth and Ron, Ginny, Molly, Arthur, George, Fred and Bill turned to see the cloaked figure standing next to them.

With a sweep of his hand the stranger within his hood from the cloak,

"Hi, guys."

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_Sorry for the delay in getting this out, it is a bit longer than usual._

_Let me know what you think…_

_Sheeps_


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer**: - I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. Anything you recognise is hers; everything else is purely my imagination-running wild…..

* * *

"_Hi, guys."_

* * *

To say that the commotion caused at platform 9¾'s was pleasant would be an understatement. The furore caused just by the Weasley family would have put '_the Battle of the Somme_' to shame, raised voices, hugs, tears, shouts, accusations, recriminations, all flew within the first few moments of Harry arriving and saying '_Hi_,' 

Molly Weasley and family each hugged, shouted and spoke as one at Harry. For the first few moments Harry didn't know whether to run and hide or just stand there and listen, however that was nothing compared to what happened next as the Auror's arrived and proceeded to try to remove Harry from the platform. This was only compounded by Dumbledore and his Order showing up and trying to get Harry to go with them.

All in all, it would have been better not to show up at the station.

As it turned out, Harry only had a few moments in which to say 'Hi' to the Weasley family before being dragged off with the Aurors to the Ministry of Magic, closely followed by Dumbledore and Moody.

This didn't exactly sit well with Harry at the time, as conscious of the fact that he had been secluded for the last two months with only his owl Hedwig for company and his little jaunts into the wizarding world, either to get food and supplies from Diagon Alley or his integration of deatheaters, he put up a bit of a fight to ensure his own safety.

Although raising a shield charm, wasn't probably the best thing that he could have done, his instincts had taken over with so many people trying to get to him.

"Oops…….sorry about that," Harry had said as he surveyed the floored Aurors lying on the ground, as his shield charmed had been a little bit over powered and had caused them to be knocked backwards on to the floor of the station. The Weasley's, being nearer to the wall had been pushed back against the brickwork instead of falling over, although they did look surprised at being moved in such a fashion.

Dumbledore and Moody, had each thrown up their own shields, which countered Harry's, therefore they were two of the only people standing at that moment, within a ten foot radius, who were either not supported by a brick wall or who were lying on the ground.

Harry pleased at seeing his friends had forgotten that he was wanted for questioning about the deatheater attacks at the end of the school year, when he had first attended Gringotts bank. He knew that he would be questioned about his involvement but expected it to be once he had got to Hogwarts, not on the station platform.

Finally realising what was going on, Harry kept his shield I place and looked at the Aurors.

"What do you think you are doing?" He nearly spat at the Aurors, "Why did you grab me?"

The Aurors by this time had managed to get to their feet, a few had drawn their wands and were point them at Harry.

"You are wanted for questioning about your involvement in the deatheater attacks at the beginning of July, outside Gringotts Bank", the Auror said, surveying the area conscious that this action had attracted quite a crowd of people, all looking at what was going on.

"And your reason for just grabbing me by my cloak was?" Harry said, looking straight into the Aurors eyes. He would not back down, "Isn't that assault? Why could you not have attracted my attention by calling my name?"

The Auror looked everywhere by at Harry, it seemed that although he was a student of Hogwarts, everyone may have forgotten that he was also a legal adult, after having been emancipated by Sirius.

"Now Harry, you know that you should be doing magic outside of Hogwarts," Dumbledore said in his best grandfather voice, looking directly at Harry.

Harry had forgotten that Dumbledore was there and pushed down his anger at the man. He would let his Slytherin side come to the front when dealing with Dumbledore and his Order. He didn't want to become a puppet of the '_old man_' and knew that this way would be better for him and all concerned, he would soon get his revenge for the '_blocks on his mind_' and other things soon enough.

"Professor, I came to the station and was grabbed by these men, who did not say who they were," Harry said, as he looked at the Headmaster, "they could have been anyone and I believe after my last altercation, which lead me to being accused of underage wizardry that I could use self defence." Harry continued, "I only raised a shield and I did not attack anyone, if anything I was assaulted by these men. I still haven't seen anything that says they are Aurors."

"Constant Vigilance Potter………good move" Moody said quietly, although his voice did carry to members of the Weasley family and others of the Order. Although this did not being a smile to Dumbledore's lips.

The Auror not being used to not getting his way with the normal wizarding population made his presence known.

"I have a letter here by the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, requesting that you come to her office at the first opportunity", he said passing the letter towards Harry.

Harry lowered his shield to take the letter from the Auror only to hear Dumbledore say "Harry I would advise that you take that"

However at that precise moment Harry's hand had come into contact with the letter and he felt that familiar tug at the back of his navel. '_The bloody letter was a portkey_'

Before he felt the tug of the portkey he could see the faces of Ron, Heroine and Ginny looking at him as he disappeared.

Rushing through space Harry suddenly felt very exposed, he still had his wand out and his adrenaline was now at an all time high.

Landing in an unfamiliar setting, he fell to the floor and immediately cast his strongest stunner that he could perform. It was one of his stunners that didn't require a direction, this was one that caused a three hundred and sixty degree stun, anything within a ten foot radius would be stunned unless they already had their shield in place.

The amount of magic that left him, caused him to stumble slightly as he dived towards to the nearest object that he could find, which happened to be a desk.

Looking around Harry found himself in rather plush office, waiting room chairs with unconscious witches and wizards lying in them, the secretary slumped over at her desk.

'_Oh shit_' was the only thing going through his head at this point at he noticed the name plate on one of the doors, leading off from this waiting area. 'Amelia Bones – Head of Magical Law Enforcement'

'_Oh shit, Oh shit, Oh shit_', this mantra continued as Harry surveyed the area in which he was currently standing.

The door to the office opened and Harry quickly turned to see who was coming through the doorway, his wand pointing straight at the person.

Amelia Bones, heard a disruption in the waiting area outside her office and went to investigate. She was not prepared for the sight that greeted her, witches and wizards lying slumped in chairs, her secretary lying slumped over her desk. She surveyed the scene in front of her and immediately recognised Harry potter standing in front of her with his wand drawn.

"What is the meaning of this?" she shouted, looking directly at Harry.

"Erm…. Sorry about that" Harry stammered.

"What do you think that you are doing?" she continued, her voice raising by the second.

It was only the distraction of Aurors coming through the outer doorway that Harry lowered his wand.

"Madam Bones," someone shouted, "Are you alright?" the shout taken up by other Aurors coming through the doorway, their wands drawn, as if expecting a fight.

"I'm sorry about that, someone gave me a portkey and the only other time that happened was when I went to see Voldemort at the end of the final task of the Tri-wizard tournament" Harry said, looking at Madam Bones, "I thought it best to stun first and then ask questions later"

"Mr. Potter please put your wand away and come with me," Amelia said as she notice that her Aurors were gradually settling down and _enervating_ the witches and wizards lying on the chairs.

Harry quickly placed his wand back in his wand holster, up his sleeve and walked causelessly into her office, noticing that two of the Aurors that were at the station accompanied him

"Please take a seat Mr. Potter," Amelia said as they entered her office, "It is regarding the attack at the beginning of July outside Gringotts Bank".

The _interview_, continued for the next half hour, that was until there was a disturbance in the outer office.

"What is going on out there?" Madam Bones said looking at the two Aurors sitting just to the left of Harry.

One of the Aurors made his way towards the door, when it was opened by the secretary.

"Sorry to disturb you but Albus Dumbledore is asking to see you?"

"He will have to wait," Madam Bones replied curtly, "I will only be another couple of minutes"

During the interview, Harry had explained why he was at Gringotts and why he had acted in the way that he had. Although not fully convinced by his actions the DMLE had nothing to go on and Amelia did not feel that it would in the best interests to prosecute Harry, as the deatheaters were clearly marked and Harry had stopped numerous deaths in attacking them, he had only hospitalised the deatheaters not killed them.

As Harry left Madam Bones's office, he could see that Dumbledore was waiting for him in the waiting room. Instead of sitting he was pacing the room, Moody beside him.

"Harry are you okay?" Dumbledore said as soon as Harry entered the waiting room, "We were quite concerned for you after you left the station, it was only when the Aurors explained where the portkey would take you that we felt it would be okay"

Harry mumbled, "So concerned that it took you over half an hour to get here", although this statement did not reach the headmasters ears.

"Well, we can now make our way to Hogwarts and discuss a few things," Dumbledore continued, "The train had to leave on time, although your friends were quite concerned for you"

"How are we going to get there, I don't feel like taking another portkey, can we floo to your office. Professor?". Harry smiled, although he felt like ripping the headmaster to pieces at the moment that would have to wait, there would be plenty of other opportunities to extract revenge.

"Certainly, Harry, lets go to the floo's downstairs in the atrium" Dumbledore smiled.

As they moved through the outer office, Harry could hear Moody talking to Amelia Bones.

Once Harry and Dumbledore reached the atrium, Harry was directed towards the floo powder, taking a handful he threw it into the fire place, saying Hogwarts, headmasters office.

Once Harry arrived in the Headmasters office, after picking himself up off the floor, he could clearly see from the windows that the Hogwarts Express had not yet arrived and wondered how long it would be, before it did.

The floo roared into life again as Albus Dumbledore stepped out of the fireplace. He watched as Dumbledore made his way around the large oak desk and sat down.

"Harry, I am glad to see that you are alright," Dumbledore smiled continuing, "Please take a seat – lemon drop?"

"No thanks Professor" Harry replied taking a seat adjactent to the desk.

"I wonder Harry, could you explain where you were this summer, you know the trouble that we had looking for you?"

"Professor, I am sorry to interrupt, however where I was, is my concern. As you can tell I was well protected and even you couldn't find me, although what you were doing looking for me is still a mystery." Harry smiled, '_Play the Slytherin card Harry,_

_Do let them know_', were the thoughts that were running through his mind.

He had decided to keep Dumbledore in the dark, not go for an all out confrontation with the '_old man_', the sorting hat wanted to put him into Slytherin, then that was what he would be. _Although if you were a true Slytherin would you be placed in the very house that portrayed cunning, deviousness, ambition or would you pick your own house and let everyone think that you were not cunning and ambitious. _

"Harry, you must know that Voldemort will come after you. You need to be protected" Dumbledore continued, "After what happened in the Department of Mysteries……." He left the remainder of the sentence unfinished.

"Professor, I am well aware of what happened," Harry did not want to remember the Department of Mysteries for obvious reasons, "As I am sure you can understand, I was placed back with my 'so called' relatives and then I decided to go to Gringotts to see about getting some money." Harry smiled, "You can guess what the Goblins informed me of."

Harry could see Dumbledore frown at the mention of Gringotts, perhaps he knew where this was going.

"Well they informed me of Sirius's will and my inheritance from him. They also mentioned the Potter vaults, did you know about them Professor?" Harry asked, not really looking for an answer"

"I also discovered that Sirius arranged for me to become an emancipated minor, in effect making me an adult in the wizarding world." Harry looked directly at the Headmaster, he could see the concern in his eyes, he may have lost his chance with Harry.

"I assure you Professor I was pleasantly surprised to find this out, when we had our discussion in your office after the altercation at the Department of Mysteries. I thought that there would be no more secrets, I discovered that I was wrong."

"Harry, you must understand that I never had any intention to hurt or mislead you," Dumbledore said, "it just didn't seem the right time" he concluded.

"Headmaster, after our discussion I can't understand why you did not tell me everything," Seeing that this conversation was going nowhere Harry decided to change the flow and ask some other questions.

"Professor, can you let mw know what my OWL results were, I haven't had a chance to see them as yet and I don't know what subjects I will be taking this coming year" Harry said, changing the topic. He could feel the slight probing of the headmaster against his mental shield, but decided not to act. '_Keep thinking Slytherin_'

"Yes,……now where did I put them" Dumbledore was slightly confused, he still didn't know where Harry had spent the summer and even though he tried to see into Harry's mind he couldn't pierce his mental shields. '_Where had the boy learnt Occulumency?_' was running through his mind. Dumbledore rummaged through his drawers finally locating Harry's results.

"Here you are Harry, you seem to have done very well" he said as he handed Harry his OWL results.

Harry accepted the parchment and looked at his results.

Defense Against the Dark Arts – 'O'

Charms – 'O'

Transfiguration – 'O'

Potions – 'O'

Herbology – 'E'

Care of Magical Creatures – 'E'

History of Magic – 'P'

Astronomy – 'P'

_Outstanding – 'O'_

_Exceeds Expectations – 'E'_

_Poor – 'P'_

He was broken out of his observation of his results by Professor Dumbledore, "Are you pleased with your results Harry?" Dumbledore asked him.

"Yes…..yes, very pleased" Harry replied, "When do I have to make my course decisions for this year, Professor?"

"You have until the end of the sorting feast," Dumbledore replied, smiling he continued, "Which shouldn't be much longer as I believe that the Hogwarts Express is now approaching the station at Hogsmeade"

Deciding that he would be getting no more answers out of Harry he quickly informed him that he could wait in the great hall until the other students arrived.

* * *

_Platform 9¾is….earlier._

To say there was panic at the station after the abrupt removal of Harry Potter was like saying that there was a slight tremor when Mount St. Helens blew her top. Suffice to say that there was pandemonium at platform 9¾'s.

Molly Weasley, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all shouted when Harry took the letter from the Auror and disappeared. Professor Dumbledore and Moody were astounded that the letter had been a portkey and as soon as Harry had disappeared Moody shot two binding hexes at the Aurors present, disabling them where they stood.

"What is the meaning of this?" roared Professor Dumbledore at the Auror who had passed Harry the letter. You could tell that he was angry as his aura was plain to see to all present.

"Where is Harry Potter gone?" he finished, glaring at the Auror.

The Auror in question, was a sorry sight. He had once been a student of Hogwarts and could tell when the headmaster was angry, although he had never seen him this angry, or for that fact ever angry.

"Pro….Professor, it was a letter from Amelia Bones," he croaked, "As soon as Harry touched the letter it would take him straight to the outer office of the DMLE" he finally finished.

"And your reason for this on a platform full of students, couldn't this have waited until Mr. Potter reached Hogwarts?"

"No Professor, Madam Bones said as soon as he was found then he was to be brought in".

During this confrontation, the remaining students tried to enter the train and look out of the windows. They were un-used to seeing their headmaster angry, this was not a side of him anyone had ever seen.

"Albus," whispered Moody, "If he has gone to the DMLE then he will be seen by Amelia, I know that she is okay and she is also a member of the Order"

Dumbledore listened to Moody and was aware that he had let his temper get the better of him.

"You are right, Moody", we must see that the children are on the train safely, then we can go to the DMLE and retrieve Harry"

"Albus, where have they taken Harry?" Molly Weasley asked, looking around at her family, noticing the concerned looks on their faces.

"Molly, all is well. It appears that Amelia Bones wanted to discuss certain things with Harry before his arrival at Hogwarts" Albus informed her.

"Now I wonder if you wouldn't mind helping get the children on to the train so that it can depart on time, Molly" Albus asked her.

"Of course……of course, Albus"

Molly Weasley proceed to Shepard her children on to the train amoung the confused students,

"I sure that Harry will see you all at Hogwarts" she said to the three of them, "and I want to hear from you when he does arrive" looking directly at Ron.

"Okay mum, I let you know" replied Ron

"I'll let you know Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione, sure that Ron would forget the moment that food was present.

"Thank you dear." Molly replied looking at Hermione, "Quickly go and find a compartment before they are all taken," she said turning to Ginny.

"Right mum" Ginny said, raising her eyes skywards. It was not as if it was the first time that they had all travelled on the Hogwarts Express before.

Once they found an empty compartment, they all sat down. Ron, Ginny and Hermione were soon found by Neville and Luna who entered their compartment.

"Did you see that?" Neville said sitting down, talking to no one in particular

"See what Neville?" Ron asked.

"Harry being taken away by those Aurors", Neville replied

"Neville, we were right there when it happened" said Ginny.

"Oh?, Why did they do that then?" he asked, not sure of the events prior to entering the station.

"They wanted to ask him some question surrounding the attack on Diagon Alley at the start of the summer holidays"

"Oh. Right then."

The rest of the train journey to Hogwarts was only spoilt, when Draco Malfoy entered the compartment, followed by his two goons, insinuating about the whereabouts of Harry, but as usual this was ignored by most everyone present, apart from Ron who wanted to attack him for just being on the train. Malfoy satisfied that he had made his one enjoyable stop left to find his own compartment, closely followed by Crabbe and Goyle.

The conversation within the compartment consisted of the brief altercation on the platform and the whereabouts of one Harry Potter, this all said and done, the rest of the journey was extremely quiet. Hermione spent her time reading her books, Ginny and Luna were reading various articles from the Prophet and the Quibbler respectively and Ron and Neville playing chess. Although it looked like it was the first time that Neville had played chess, by the rate in which he lost games to Ron.

The train was drawing closer to the castle when they finally decided to get into their robes. Ron was anxious to get to the feast, the only food that he had eaten being the sandwiches made by his mum and the few sweets that they managed to get from the trolley as it past by their compartment.

As they got off the train and walked towards the carriages, Ginny asked the first question concerning Harry.

"Do you think Harry will be at the feast?" she asked no-one in particular.

"Of course, the Aurors couldn't have held him for long, he would have flooed to Hogwarts or Professor Dumbledore would have made a portkey," replied Hermione, "of course he will be there." Although she was only confident in sounding for the sake of Ginny and not one hundred percent that Harry would be there.

"Well, it won't long before we find out," said Ron, "If he isn't then we can save him a seat and wait for him"

* * *

_Hogwarts Great Hall_

Harry had taken his shrunken things to the Gryffindor dormitory and left his trunk by his bed, making sure that it was properly warded. He didn't want anyone looking through it because of the amount of Dark Arts materials and books that he had put in it. The wards wouldn't do anything dangerous, they would alert Harry to the fact that someone would be trying to get into it.

He had managed to find some charms that would hide the books and potions that he had stored in his trunk, however confident he was in his warding he was not certain that Moody wouldn't be able to see through them.

The only other charm that he had put on it was the finger tip removal charm, this would remove the finger tips of the intruder trying to get into his trunk, although not lethal, it would make the finger tips of the person trying to get into his trunk fall off and drop onto the floor. They would be able to take them to Madam Pomfrey to get them re-attached but it would be inconvenient trying to pick up your own finger tips.

It was at this time that he heard a tapping at the window to his dorm, turning around and looking at the window he could see a snowy white owl sitting on the window ledge.

'_Oh god, she's going to kill me_' he thought, as he made his way the window, throwing it open to allow Hedwig to fly in.

"Sorry Hedwig, I forgot to leave the window open" he said looking at his owl.

Hedwig, was not in the mood for his forgetfulness and immediately flew at him, cuffing him around the head before landing on the end of his bed. If looks could have killed, Harry would be lying in a puddle of his own blood about now.

"Hedwig, look I'm sorry, I didn't mean to forget," Harry said walking slowly towards her, "I get you some food from the feast and will bring it to you later – okay?"

Hedwig was not amused, after all of the time that she had spent with her master at Black Cottage she thought that he would have looked out for her. She flew up and landed on his shoulder and nipped him hard on his ear lobe.

"Ouch!...Hedwig sorry," Harry cried, "what is it with you and my ear lobes, they must be bruised enough by now"

Hedwig glared, _'they would be hanging off if I had my way'_ was the look that she conveyed.

"Thanks Hedwig, I'll need to get to the great hall if I want to set up the little surprise for any marked deatheaters. Not the sort of thing I was expecting to be allowed into the great hall before everyone else on the first day but hey!" Harry said to Hedwig as he walked through the common room towards the entrance.

"I come and bring you some food after I attend the feast along with everyone else. It should be interesting to say the least, okay girl?" he said, whilst he was walking towards the great hall.

Harry entered the great hall and made sure that no one was present, he cast a few charms at the entrance way in order to make sure that he would be alerted in anyone came near the doorway. He didn't want to be interrupted for about five minutes whilst putting this spell down.

Thinking about it, he cast a _notice-me-not _charm at the doorway, hoping that anyone coming towards the door would find something else that they needed to do and leave.

Carefully drawing a few markers around the entranceway he muttered a spell, he then cast a two spells at all of the seats and benches in the hall. This would have a three-fold function. The first would detect the dark mark on the person and mark the person for the second and third spells, only when they sat down would the delayed spell vanish the clothes on the parts of the bodies where the dark mark was placed, but any _glamour's_ used to cover the dark marks would also be revealed and removed.

He had purposely made it a delayed spell because as much as he wanted to remove the students who were already marked, he didn't really want to disrupt the first part of the speeches nor the sorting of the new students.

Finally happy that his spells would work correctly he went back to the entranceway and removed the _notice-me-not_ charm from the doorway. He wasn't certain that anyone had come near the doorway, but it didn't hurt to be pro-active.

Taking a seat at the Gryffindor table he waited for the arrival of the students.

* * *

_Let me know what you think...Sheeps_


End file.
